Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Albums of 2005

Ok so once again we're doing the Top 15 Albums of the Year...
Feedback always welcome. Hope you enjoy it.
In addition to the Top 15, there's a bonus 5 Biggest Disappointments!

Frank

all can be purchased or scoffed at here - Top 15 - Disappointing 5


1. Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth
If you didn't see this one coming, than you may not know who I am. However, this album really is the best album of the year for me. It's a huge departure and not a letdown. It makes you listen to the last NIN album and question it a bit. A solid collection of 12 songs that have no cohesion - which is odd for a NIN album. However, this is a concept album - the concept is that all the songs are good.

2. Veda (Verdera) – Weight of an Empty Room
Of all the albums I picked up this year, this was a huge suprise. I saw them live openeing for #4 on the list and it's the only 1st opener I've ever seen that left you wanting more. The album is great. Girl singer and no piano! So it's a bit atypical of my tastes. However, each song is a solid pop rock song with well written lyrics and a subtle fierceness that really makes you want to start the whole album over again...and again...and again...

3. The Bravery - The Bravery

This year's answer to the Killers, except not bitchy and obnoxious people. It takes the whole 80s synth pop and makes it dancey - not club, but jump up and down fun. And they're New Yorkers.

4. Dredg – Catch Without Arms
Here's a band a friend of mine has liked for a while and once I started hearing them for myself, I knew why he was so attached to them. It's a great combonation of what is left of grunge with a smoother feel and a couple cool electronic sounds and instruments. It's the indie rock answer to pink floyd, or maybe more like Yes.

5. Ringside - Ringside

Another friend sent me this albums months before it came out, and I was going crazy over it. Originally "tired of being sorry" was called "spanish faster" - and if you hear it makes more sense. Another band that can actually sing and play. I don't think they'll ever make it anywhere, sounds like they're more about the record company paying for them to tour instead of actually playing shows and jobbing it. So if you buy it, remember its supporting corporate america.

6. Fall Out Boy – From Under the Cork Tree
Ok aside from all the songs having a twist on a famous movie quote, it's the best faux punk album since last year's Green Day album. "Sugar, We're Going Down" is the one of the catchiest songs all year and the rest of the albums backs it up with the same feel. Definitely a good driving cd.

7. Superchumbo - Wowiezowie Much like the NIN cd, you'd expect this from me. Superchumbo finally releases a full disk, and its chock full of dancefloor gems. "U Know I Love It" makes me want to turn the bass up on life and sing along. Or maybe do a whole lot of dancing in the DJ booth at Pure in Philly.

8. Gorillaz – Demon Days
What happens when you put a bunch of cartoon monkeys in a studio for the second time? Bach? Gershwin? Another great album that blends all genres and makes rap actually rock? Yeap. that it does.

9. Ben Folds – Songs for Silverman
What you'd expect from this man. A great album of cheeky piano driven rock songs and a few slow ballads about an old man or 2. "Gracie" is a song about his daughter, which really reminds you why you should love Ben Folds.

10. Switchfoot – Nothing is Sound
This band keeps suprising me. It's the only Christian Rock band I really like, and have a lot of respect for them for this reason. The lead singer posted on the bands website how to rip the cd into your computer in order to put it on your ipod or make a copy of it. Thou shall not steal apparently doesn't apply to the record industry, I think we may all agree on that. "Stars" is a great song and it's another great CD to just throw in and listen to.

11. Beck – Guero
Beck makes a return from his last venture which was full of acoustic songs. More hip hop laced and keeps the feet moving. "Hell yes" and "Clap Hands" (on the remix cd) are the 2 highlights. and "hell yes" has a great video.

12. Little Brother – The Minstrel Show
Oddest cd of the year, hands down. It's a cool kinda tounge in cheek album where they makes jokes while actually singing and it really draws your attention in and there's a vocal appearance by Chris Hartwick (from MTV's Singled Out). A must have for all those that loved Spike Lee's "Bamboozled."

13. Lil Kim – Naked Truth
Lil Kim picks up her game and throws it in the face of those punk ass mcs that think she can't hold it down no mo! "Kitty Box" (which i think needs a house mix) is my favorite. Lil Kim definitely for the pick of the litter for beats and ripped it on the vocals.

14. Suzanne Palmer – Home
This is more what the Madonna album should have been in my opinion. An album of dancefloor tracks that can be played as is. It's nice to have a full album of Suzanne Palmer as you usually only heard her amazing voice on a song that came out every few months. The cover of "fascinated" really drives the dancefloor nuts and the rest of the tracks would be just about perfect for anyone to drop at peaktime.

15. Acceptance – Phantoms
This was an iTunes special. It was a free download and then that turned into a great album. Just listening to the clips on iTunes makes me want to pop the album in.


and now the disappointments...


1. Kanye West – Late Registration
The albums's 1st track ends with the words "wake up mr. west" - an understatement. However, when you make such a great CD out of the gate, there's only 1 way to go. This cd has 3 great songs... track 2, 3 and 4. and then you have to suffer through the rest of a disjointed mess. sometimes you will find some solace only to be disturbed again by a massacre of an album. The 1st cd was an album - and made sense from beginning to end. when you get to the end of this cd, you get screwed up. You have track 19 called "gone," then a bonus track of the original "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" - but the song is has nothing to do with Sierra Leone and was originally titled "Diamonds are Forever." But then there's another fucking track called "Late." So goodbye album flow at all - whatsoever - in the least. BOOOOO TO KANYE!!!

2. Madonna – Confessions on a Dancefloor
Madonna's comeback to dance music, this album had so much buzz. Everyone was talking about how great it was gonna be - fans placing it above Erotica and Ray of Light. Before anyone ever heard a single note. Then there's "Hung Up" - you gotta be kidding me. Then there's the rest of the album to this resurgance to dance music. Maybe if you're in a lounge in Paris or something - but thats not dance music to the US. Especially in NY where freestyle is still a staple part of people's diet, this really isn't the massive impact we were hoping for. At least not the one I was hoping for. Now don't get me wrong the disk isn't all bad. "Jump" (not a Pointer Sisters nor Van Halen cover) is a highlight and really is well done.

3. Garbage – Bleed Like Me
I think that record companies have to stop making bands fulfill contracts. I think thats what happened here. Just months after making their 2nd bad album in a row they broke up. This band made 2 of the best albums ever "Garbage" and "Version 2.0" - and really fell hard. So sad...

4. Fiona Apple – Extrodinary Machine
If you don't know the drama behind this album - here's the short short version. 2 different producers same set of songs - long hold out by record label, lots of drama. Unfortunately, this really doesn't give you the feel that "Tidal" did, and picks the worst songs from "When The Pawn..." to elaborate on. It's up for a Grammy, I dunno.

5. Billy Corgan – The Future Embrace
This man needs to swallow his pride and make some good music. Stop talking about theory and shit and DO SOMETHING PEOPLE WANT TO LISTEN TO!!!! In an interview, he discusses how there are no "crash" symbols used on the album and that it made them have to work harder to go from verse to chorus and such. Crash - the sound the cd made when I threw it at the wall of disappointment.


Questions? Comments? Spelling Errors?

Coming soon - the Top 50 Songs of 2005.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Jews On Christmas

In case Adam Sandler and Kyle from South Park wasn't enough - we get Sarah Silverman taking a stab at it. 2005's Jew's angry at Christmas Song. I will say, however, that jew can sing (if it's really her).


Kanye West has already started to say his last album, "Late Registration," should be album of the year. First off, if "College Dropout" didn't win, this one will definitely not.

It will however top this list:

2005's Top 5 Albums - Biggest Dissapointments

1. Kanye West - Late Registration


Now I will say that this does not mean that these albums are all bad. Just huge dissapointments. Any suggestions? Madonna perhaps? More next time...

Thursday, December 01, 2005

#1 On My Christmas List



I hope one day someone will auction off something that I used to clean my ass. Maybe I should start saving used toilet paper. Go here for more items

CONTEST ALERT:

Guess how much this will auction for. Winner get a free package of toilet paper that I've personally used!!

WHAT THE-?!

Frank

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

What The-?!

Back in the day there was a comic book by Marvel Comics called "What The-?!" It was a comic about nothing reeally, it was Mad Magazine but with all the Marvel characters all drawn wierd and screwed up without a plot line and such. Here are some links to this week's real life WHAT THE-?!

Q-Unit - Somehow if 50 makes it to jail, he'll be singing these songs

I wish I was 13, Jewish, female, and oh right filthy fucking rich (Another Q-Unit appearance)


My own "What The-?!" moment happened on Sunday. Here's the short short version. Saw Rent at the movies, bought senior tix in order to save $3.75 a ticket. Drop $180 for dinner at Sushi Samba. WHAT THE-?!

Although I will say it was a great movie and meal. Honestly, one of the better weekends I've had in a long time, and I believe Sarah agrees.

See you in December...

Frank

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

want an x-box?

At this point its about 9 hours after most of the x-box's in EST have gone onsale. Now just for the record - there are over 15,000 on ebay. 15,000!!! And so far they have sold for over $3000. Now next year, I will be sure to be the dickhead waiting in the rain for a Nintendo Revolution with about 5 other people and then sell them all in order to bring myself some good old fashioned price gauging - i mean christmas cheer.

and apparently the only thing I can do to get some good comments is to comment on the invention of the internet and the fact that x-box should not be on the news.

in any case - next year is the new Nintendo Revolution system and that will be what you want to buy. X-box?? what the fuck? sounds like what happens what you call when you bang a person you've broken up with. or not...

and now for the what the fuck moment of the day - which few of you will actually care about.

The Radio Chick has jumped back to teressterial radio (aka the shitty kind) and is now gonna be on WXRK. Now I could be wrong but the dumbest move ever in radio history could be to lose the #1 radio talk show host ever and then choose to make your station all talk. Aside from that, we now have NO modern rock radio in NY, and didn't they learn their lesson with WNEW and their all talk format?

I'm pissed because the Radio Chick was one of my favortie shows and used to listen before O&A everyday. With O&A on XM and the Chick back to FM, it leaves with me Stern in January (which I'm really not a huge fan of) and OutQ. The Gay Talk Channel. Which as the fiancee also agrees with, its pretty damn good!

So I'm glad I got to have my remix played on the Chick's show the week before she left. Oh well...

Frank

Monday, November 21, 2005

walk the line

As December comes along there's something that we have to deal with. Lines. No, not the kind you'd like to do in order to make your mall shopping more tolerable. But long lines of people waiting to buy their loved ones gifts. Now - with the invention of the internet (by Al Gore) you would think lines would be a thing of the past for many items. Now I understand, lines to the bathroom, lines at a resturant, even waiting on line to get a ticket to a movie.

there was a time where you'd have to wait online to get concert tickets. Even get up at 2am and go over or sleep out to make sure you were first online or make sure you get tickets at all. OR when they had those wristbands that had a random number and then it was sort of the luck of the draw.

Ticketmaster is pretty much only online, with the exception for a few outlets. But you'd also think with all these other sites around, there would be no need for a bunch of people to be lining up to get an x-box 360 the day before it goes onsale. I mean what the fuck? Is it really necessary to waste your time waiting in the cold and the rain in a shopping mall to buy an x-box 360? Now I would hope that this means the people will open it when they get home and play whatever game comes with the system. But are these people waiting online to wrap this up for christmas?

Is it really going to be that difficult to get one of these? Especially with the great name of 360 and its not even fucking round! So thats today's piece of shit for the day...

Saturday, November 12, 2005

moving forward?

Last night I worked back at the Waterloo. Now aside from the typical douchebags (Danny's friend and the guy that swore I called him a pussy and was going to hit me) it was a pretty good evening. I was excpecting the worst, but actually had a good time. However, it seems that Mr. Greek (the owner) is having a "I fucked things up" moment. So he's doing what he can to rope old people back in, just the ones he likes though. Which I guess is a category I fall into. He offered me Thanksgiving Eve, which is definitely a nice gig. As well as a return to my post of Friday night resident. Now, see its one of those things where it has been miserable there, but it still can have some potential. As long as they get their shit back together. So as of now and until the new year - Frank will be back on Fridays at the Waterloo.

One possible change is if he manages to rope back in old bartenders - mainly two that worked with me just about every Saturday for like 2 years. If they come back on Saturday night, then I will go back on Saturday night. And it was pretty much put that it's a package deal. When bartender (we'll call her) Fake "D" told Mr. Greek that she won't work unless I do, he didn't understand and questioned what the DJ has to do with anything. However, we get it. We understand what that means, how to work with each other. That she tells me I'm playing too loud, that people want that new afro-cuban polka trip-hop track or Pearl Jam, and the way I know she'll dance everytime I play September(Remix) by Earth, Wind & Fire. My role is to ask her to make 5 shots for someones birthday (and forget to charge me at the end of the night), to charge my friends a bit less, and to make sure I get a drink even if the place is packed wall to wall.

A better situation would be to have two other bartenders back. But I don't really think (we'll call her) Real "D" and Big G will come back. So with that said - the only way we all go back to working on Saturdays if if the old team is back together. We don't need any Terrell Owens' around - although D-Ball would be a great addition.

So I don't know if i'm moving forward or not, but it is kinda nice to work again since I don't have a DJ job set up until February (2/10 @ Pure In Philly) and oddly fun to play some hip hop. Got some extra christmas money now, funny cuz I was thinking of getting a retail job for the holiday season.

Frank

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

4 and 5; Therefore 9

That comes from a Soul Coughing song called 4 out of 5. Now it really has little to do with today, but it just reminded me of this movie Derek and some people were shooting in college about going to the bathroom. The ending sequence was me sitting on a toilet (pants up) talking about how I sing that song in my head in public bathrooms when the whole male pee shy thing comes along. I actually still need a copy of it along with the other movies I was in.

Anyways - let's work backwards - for the past week or so my Dad got this idea to hire roofers to redo the roof as we had a leak and while this was going on bumping out the garage a bit more. So my Dad hired 2 Polish guys to do the roof. I don't know where he got these people from, not really important. So apparently one of them likes to drink - a lot - while working - on A ROOF!!!! Fortunately he's not dead. However we got a good amount of rain today (and a bolt of lightning that I swear hit our neighbors house) - and well a roof is supposed to prevent rain from coming in the house typically. Apparently Polish roofers don't find that to be a priority, so there is water leaking from the same spot where it was leaking. We had a small leak and it is now a big problem. Oh happy day.

I also can't watch tv in my room as they had to cut one of the lines of cable - so i have my computer and tv in the living room and porch - but incase you don't know my family - its a bit difficult to sleep due to noise forget about watching Lost where if I miss a logo on a shark or something I will seem really dumb at work tomorrow. Woe is me (I kinda feel like like Karen)

(Side Note - I watched it - and with my family in and out I almost LOST my fucking mind! At one point my Mom says that her and my sister are done in there so I watch it in there and they start talking while it's on, so I had to go back and fourth. When will I get cable back?)

As many of you know I work for a Jewish organization. Some of you are still amused, I know, but today I had a sureal experience. I arrive at the 57th st office at 9am (I was actually early) and was waiting to get into the elevator. Now the building is old and so are the elevators and there are like 12 floors and 2 elevators. So I'm behind a Hasidic Jewish man (or as Sarah calls them "Jews in Costume")and a white woman. The elevators open some people file in and the Jewish man was being a bit slow and the elevator closed at 1/2 capacity. The woman behind me says loudly "Oh Jesus Christ." No lady - probably not.

Finally - I have been intrigued by a group of anonamous bloggers. There's the stripper (this one about the foo fighters is priceless), the bouncer and this one - the lawyer. Now she's had some drama that you can read if you desire. She's landed herself in NY Times and has a book deal due to her blog. However, I think some of us can relate to this post in particular. I know I can. However I will say this year I am winning 2-0 against the Senior. (And after this roofing issue, it's like a empty net goal)

Expect some more sooner than later - I've had some more time and the Fiancee is off to Texas this weekend. Which means lots of time sitting at home at my computer! I'm so fucking cool! Actually I hope to get out a lot this weekend. We'll see...

Frank

Sunday, November 06, 2005

One of these blogs

So we're back at filling in blog for a song lyric...

so far today I haven't done much. I slept in late, which was odd because my time was so throw off, as it tends to be when I'm at Sarah's since the only clock I can see with my glasses off is the regular one with hands and that doesn't make much sense to me just as my eyes open. Takes too much thought really.

So this blog will jump all over the musical spectrum as does my brain. Or as my supervisor called it yesterday ADHD. But that's another conversation that should probably be done with someone that can prescribe medication.

So its been a few weeks now since I've DJed and its been a bit odd. Although I did get booked for February 10th in Philly. It's some special event that "I would be perfect for." Which means - play your wedding heart out you cheesy SOB. But that is what I do. On any given night. So I'm excited, as usual.

My remix "If Madonna calls...Hang up" has made my website explode. I'm up hundreds of hits and visits. And most importantly downloads. It's pretty damn cool still, and Derek and Romaine continue to play it. If you don't have it yet - www.djfrankmanzo.com - get it there. It'll also be on James Anthony's next Sirius Mixshow, right after Ricky Martin. My Mom will be so proud. He's spinning at Avalon Sunday - so go check him out.

Jump to Thursday. I went to the Nine Inch Nails concert at MSG. Now typically these concerts are sold out (which it was) and getting rid of an extra ticket is easy. Not in this case. I couldn't scalp it - even for face value. It sucked. So at that point I just wanted someone to go and not waste a ticket. So luckily Alaina (who I was giving 1 ticket to) called Jonah and he stopped skating over at Bryant Park and came over. Gave me $20 for the ticket - which was a $75 ticket - and we all went in. Now I must say - the show was amazing. Probably the 2nd or 3rd best NIN show ever. I was definitely excited to have been there and experienced it all. NIN always makes concerts an experience, and there were Hurt video-esque moments with a big screen with projections on it. At one point there was a picture of George Bush dancing with Laura and the place went bonkers. Mainly since the lyrics in the song were:

What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems
What if all the world you think know
Is an elaborate dream?

As I've said the show rocked. And I ran into people I haven't seen in years outside of the show, also cool.

On the way to the car (tip: to avoid paying $40 to park when going to MSG or nearby, park on 29th St off of 10th Ave. It's a little walk, but its worth it) I heard a remix of "food" by Common & Kanye West. I thought I may be one of few people that knew every NIN song as well as this remix. Which I don't think is a bad thing, it's just weird. So let's continue with the weirdness...

So in the coming weeks there's Happy Potter & the Goblet of Fire and Rent hitting the theatres. I'm excited for both, more so for Rent. It's a favorite, and really seems promising. I want to get some people together to see this on opening weekend - anyone wanna come?

So I spent another Saturday night not doing much - sitting here blogging obviously. Which isn't a bad thing really, just very odd for me. I've been toying with the idea of doing a podcast type of thing or a weekly mixshow for this site and djfrankmanzo.com. Even making them different - make this one like a radio show and the other one a DJ mixshow. We'll see - it sounds good on paper. er - the screen.

Sorry - got interrupted by the emergency phone from work. A kid is most likely AWOL AGAIN!!!! As Chad's Dad says - there are 2 ways to do things - the easy way and the hard way. This boy is taking the hard way to a new level.

Frank

Monday, October 24, 2005

Music Blog Link

Got a little write up here - cool beans

http://digitaleargasm.blogspot.com/2005/10/material-girl.html

Cool Blog site as well.

So we survived the weekend of mixed messages, unexpected issues, overpriced hotel rooms, rain, raw pizza, and the wonderful town of Essignton, PA


In any case - Pure was great. I did a lot of jumping and had a ton of fun. We managed to polish off a bottle of vodka between 3 of us. I also had a beer with dinner, a drink before the club and then another drink or 2 after the vodka was gone. Now for me thats is A LOT of alcohol, but i amazingly felt really good today. Oh and I did all that jumping before I was carrying out my bag and missed a step at which point i thought my ankle was broken. its just a bit sprained.

So the madonna song went over well, as did a lot of the other fun things i was doing. heard some cunty, this is acid, this time baby, and lots of new stuff- like mariah carey and shit like that. In any case it was a lot of fun - despite lots of things that kinda sucked. Like how long our breakfast at Denny's took. um - yes - um Denny's. I got the Sausage Sampler - and that was after a night at Pure.

so been getting e-mails here and there about hearing the madonna song on Sirius, so it's prety damn cool still.

However - uncool - is that I have the emergency phone for work for the next 2 weeks I think.

Frank

Friday, October 21, 2005

If Madonna Calls Hang Up

So it's been a crazy week and I'm now 26 and have a load of money to spend at express and more chocolate to last me - well for me probably only till Sunday. I also have spent some time over the past few days shaking. No not cuz my Dad has yet to turn the heat on when it hits 50 over night. But Because I've dipped into that 15 minutes of fame everyone gets. So here's minute 2:30 of fame I guess.

Madonna has a new single called "Hung Up" and I think it pretty much sucks, however the love of my life was listening to the Derek and Romaine radio show on the OutQ station of Sirius and they're talking about how the new single reminds him of "If Madonna Calls." A song from like 10 years ago thats was a bitchy house track, something I tend to enjoy.

So on my day off on Tuesday (October Jewish Holiday # 4 1/2) and decided to put those two together and do a remix / mashup kinda thing. I sent it to Derek and to tell him what I did and figured he may get a kick out of it. In the back on my mind hoping they would play it and I'd be touring the country by November.

So Wednesday morning, Derek emails me this: "Frank - You are a fucking genius! When I heard "Hung Up" my first thought was "If Madonna Calls" is the perfect companion song. So we played the two of them back to back and I think it sounded great. However, I love your merged version. It's perfect. The crowd is gonna shit when they hear it in Philadelphia. Great job! - Derek."

Followed by a phone call that Sirius's dance channel wants to put it into rotation on Area 33. So needless to say I was pretty fucking excited. My friend James says he'll put it on his mixshow which also airs on Sirius - um and on KTU but thats one with guido 80s music. So I spent the day hoping it would come on, but never heard it.

After a long long day at work - I'm late to come home for my birthday dinner and I put on the Derek and Romanine show. They're talking about how some pregnant chick was so happy that Romaine gave her these items (er, um toys?) that would help strengthen musicles in her - um - area. So they go to break, promote their website and say "sign up for our newsletter and you'll recieve a link to our favorite song a Sirius exclusive "If Madonna Calls, Hang Up" by DJ Frank Manzo." At which point I had to pull over and change my depends. I mean yelled holy shit. So after a few minutes I called in and was tld to call back in 5 minutes cuz they wanted to spend some time with me.

I come home, set a tape, take a piss and get on the phone. a 5 minute interview with them, several website plugs, a plug for Saturday in Philly and then they played it. Now this is what I call a birthday gift from God or something. So if you want to hear the interview or the song go to my website www.djfrankmanzo.com and check'em out. I've some e-mails regarding the song as well and have put some people on my list for Saturday.

Oddly enough, this is kinda stange as some people that I'm close with and are huge house fans & even DJs - don't like the mix. I mean it's not the best thing I've ever done, as I said before I think the Madonna song sucks - but its the idea behind it. It's kinda like when I did Nelly Furtado's Forca. It's more about getting noticed because of it. With Forca I was contacting people at Dreamworks I never thought I would have, and even got a copy of it into her own hands; and have a signed copy to boot for myself. That mix is a great one to listen to, but not a good one for the dancefloor. This mix was not for the dancefloor at all, but I had to make it work. I was talking to another DJ friend of mine a few months ago, and he said that evertime he felt like he should stop something would happen. So within 3 days I went from "I don't have another DJ gig lined up" to "DJ Frank Manzo is on the fucking radio!" Welcome to this week.

So aside from - after Midnight struck - I'm pissed as shit cuz we're staying at a hotel about 20 mins from the club and no one (including myself) is happy about it. But we'll make the best of it and go from there. Hopefully the best will include a bottle of vodka - and um "If Madonna Calls, Hang Up" of course.

So I'm 26 - had my first radio interview as a DJ - and had a mix of mine played on the radio. Tomorrow I have chocolate chilli, a chocolate calzone, chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cake to look forward to. As I said - enough chocolate till Sunday.

(Cue Sia - Breathe Me)
This week also had some sad moments involoving the grandmother (great aunt really) of my best friend. Not to bring up back story, but I knew Grandma very well years ago. And she will be missed, but never ever forgotten. She's touched my friend's life more than anyone else has and will continue to do so until we all meet again. It makes you think, remember what's important.


Thanks -

Frank

Thursday, October 13, 2005

As usual - this is long overdue.

Work's been crazy - and great. Yesterday - our new worker Jill D started. Now thats not to mix her up with the other Jill B I work with. and to make it more conmfusing - Jill B reccomended Jill D for the job, so they know each other.
Why would anyone care? you really wouldn't. Although it's the only other person i've met that is also 3/4 Italian and 1/4 Polish. And most importantly she seems cool - and makes my work load a bit lighter.

i spent most of the day configuring digital cable in my house - that was after i had a 1/2 day at work (thanks to the jews) and had a cavity filled (thanks to hershey's). They don't all work yet - hopefully by tomorrow.

I'm getting all geared up for next Saturday in philly - where I'm hoping to have the most people come and see me down there. This will rival the 1st saturday I played in April of 2004 in terms of how many friends I will have there. Getting some good tunes together to have a fun night again.

As a follow up tyo my last racial filled blog - Fuji and I showed off our German pride this past friday with Matt. and between us all - we um aren't even a bit German. However Mike said that the Germans invaded Poland so it's kinda like we're German. I must say Zum Schneider is a good place to eat, drink and get stupid with some strangers from San Francisco.

The big discussion of the night was about um - um - statistics. Now before you start thinking we're talking about anything that is remotely educational - realize who I'm talking about. This is a statistic that Goldman discovered that only 50% of people have sex on their wedding night. Well ok - 1/2 of the couples - cuz if only the bride had sex - I think thats a shitty way to start a marriage. But what do I know? Nothing, but i have just under a year to figure it out. The theme to that night became "don't be a statistic!!"

So tomorrow I will enjoy my 3 1/2 jewish holiday off this month - and look forward to 2 more. And my birthday next Thursday. but more importantly is that Sarah doesn't need to go to Greenville, SC for work that day. On friday we get to see my cousin's boyfriend perform at the St.George Theatre on Staten Island with the Alvin Ailey Dance Co. He's the white guy in the show.

I'm sure I'll let everyone know how Pure goes. If it's 1/2 as good as the last time I'll be very happy.

Frank

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Everyone's a little bit racist

First off - let's start with a long overdue event - frank joining myspace.com

so you can go to www.myspace.com/frankmanzo and check me out over there. I'm mainly using it for dj-ing. At least that's my plan.

second - is my rant for the week - now - on Sunday night I was in the city - went down to the Puerto Rican parade between Houston and canal. I'm sorry - I mean the San Gennaro Feast. However, the last time I checked reggaeton, tacos and everyone loves a Puerto Rican girl shirts were not Italian. Also not Italian - people speaking Spanish. I'd also say that also not Italian are black people - but we all know that its pretty close. So I'll let that go.

Now don't get me wrong - last year Sarah and I found ourselves at a Brazilian festival and just hung out. And I'm spent time at Newark Portuguese festival as well. However, I did not see zepolles, canollis, pizza and sausage and peppers there. AND WOULD NOT EXPECT TO!!!!

I think the "Bella Taco" stand was the worst - which I guess would be ital-ish - or span-ilian - the equivalent of spanglish for Italians and Spanish. Although Bella is the same in both languages. Now the translation means "beautiful taco" and I'm all for a nice pretty taco. But I don't buy mine on the street - some of you may. Some may call them up on the phone. Now I'm talking about "Bella Rosa Taco." Go ahead translate.

In any case I finally made my way down to get surrounded by yentas talking about how it's so crowded. and now what were some of these other people eating? Pizza? nah - sausage and peppers? nope eggplant parm? Still wrong - how about GYROS!!!!!! Cuz nothing saying I'm supporting my Italian heritage like FETA CHEESE and pita.

There was also an annoying guidette yelling in a high pitched voice about how she wanted to come earlier and now its too crowded. I watched "Brooklyn Own Joe Causi" host a canolli eating contest. (A better contests would've been guess Joe's weight.) Finally got away from the reggaeton to hear the music of my people. Not Polka (that's the polish part), no no not Sinatra, or Dean Martin. But the (sorry James) teeth itching beats - that makes every guido do the 80s fist pump. FREESTYLE!

So after I had some really good friend calamari and a chocolate canolli - I made my way out. Now I don't know why I go every year. It's the same thing. Except this year with less Italians. They can't even fill the end block anymore. I'm sure in due time little Italy will be less than the 1 block it still is. but I'll go back in hopes to see people that look more like john gotti, my late uncle pete and the cast of the sopranos. As much as I dislike that whole scene - it is the stereotype of what NYC Italians are - and stereotypes are based on truth (See ave q).

so all in all I had a great weekend. Friday night had an absolute blast going out the whole night. I haven't walked out of a club in daylight in a long time. Nothing like hearing Danny Tenaglia again as well. Saturday and Sunday were good also - getting to spend some desperately needed time with Sarah in the comforts of the W in Union Square. With $8 bottles of water in an amazing comfy bed.

so I'll wait for the hate mail.

Frank

Thursday, September 08, 2005

What in the world is our country doing?

As every other blogger in the US - here's my Katrina post. Enjoy the awfulness and somewhat hilarity that is our country and media.

(what the fuck is man even talking about???? So poor and so black - chalk one up for whitey!)
http://newsbusters.org/media/2005-09-01-CNNTSRBlitzer.wmv

(Just watch the first 3 mins or so)
Video Link

(Ranting with Mr. Cooper! Ripping the senator a new asshole! - the smartest line "The president WILL be here tomorrow! - we think")
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Anderson-Cooper-Landrieu-Katrina1.wmv

(humor - cuz we have to laugh at some point about this - you might have to scroll down for this)
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/The-Daily-Show-Katrina-Disaster.wmv

(one for the ipod - kinda)
http://www.moceanworker.com/mowo/nolaaintrighttonight.mp3

(I knew it i'm surrounded by assholes - oh i'll just e-mail a pic from my digital camera to have a place to stay - i'll do that ONCE WE GET FUCKING POWER IN LOUISIANA!)
http://www.gawker.com/news/weather/manhattanites-come-to-the-aid-of-katrina-refugees-124157.php

I promise to wite about the other things I previously said I'd talk about soon. Not that people need to be reminded - but give to the red cross and vote for people that you feel can actually get the job done. I'm oddly enough kicking myself for not going to the red cross a month ago the way i wanted to - in order to sign up for any type of emergency services I can lend. I'd say too little to late - but another crisis WILL happen! We just have to be prepared the best we can.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Are we - we are. Are we - we are the waiting

I've been meaning to blog for a few days now - notably to bring back some past events and items that need some mentioning really just for amusement purposes. and I guess that's where we'll start today. First off - upcoming posts will include "fucking clitoris" and "razmatazz." Some of you will get both of those - some of you will wait very impatiently to know what that means - or not. (Wacky radio voice) So let's take a trip down memory lane - Summer 1994.

Now summer of 1994 is a very memorable one for me. I got my first girlfriend - watched Woodstock '94 on TV which introduced me to my favorite Nine Inch Nails - and we'd play hockey just about daily in 90 degree heat. In a time where Scott Matika and the rest of us were still mourning the suicide of Kurt Cobain, we were huge music buffs. However, when I think back to Summer 1994, I cannot forget about those sweet words - "when masturbation's lost it's fun, you're fucking lazy." Green Day's Dookie is an absolute classic. And we must've listened to that album in my backyard a thousand times. Most people own that album, and many of you even have the case that had a brown colored spine. I also remember getting a Green Day shirt and wearing it to school first day of sophomore year and then meeting Donna Rubin - cuz she was wearing an MTV Unplugged T-shirt. Remember when the most important thing in school was establishing your coolness the first day? No? Me neither - I was never really cool.

So anyways - why do I bring this all up? Cuz I just got back from Green Day at Giants Stadium. Which was great! I was pleasantly surprised - kinda forgot how many great songs they have and they played some great covers including Shout and We are the champions. However if I never hear "YEAH - NEW JERSEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYY" again - it'll be too soon. Now that's all with the concert review - if you were one of the 50,000 or so - you know what it was like. If you didn't go - I'm sure it'll be in the Star Ledger today. Now Green Day has come a long was from 1994 and has put out an absolutely amazing album known as "American Idiot" just under a year ago (which in hindsight - should've been on my top 15 of 2004) - and now they're popular with the kids. The 14 year olds that are going into high school - like my sister. The first concert I've gone to with my sister and her first rock concert (the only other "real" concert she's seen was Alicia Keys - the rest were um c-rap). She seemed to have a lot of fun and her friend used to "like" them and after the show "loves" them. So I found it really cool - and oh so ironic (and yes uncomfortable when Billie Joe starting playing with himself and they had it on all the big screens) that 11 years after an album that helped shape my adolescence - I was enjoying with my 14 year old sister who is currently experiencing her own adolescence - probably stressing out about what shirt to wear to her first day of school on Tuesday.

The quote of the evening goes to this random encounter with a girl that looked so damn familiar but I couldn't place it -
Me - Excuse me - I know this is wired - but you look familiar - are you from Staten Island?
Girl (Who's name I swear is Deanna - no idea why) - Um Yeah
Me - you go to Tottenville?
girl - no
Me - I dunno - what is is then - I know you from somewhere
girl - maybe I hooked up with you when I was drunk one night
Me - no that's it - ok...

Matt - you know people everywhere
Me - I know
Matt - that was a bizarre response from her
Me - yeap

So I want comments on what my answer should've been - a fill in the blank - the best one will win a copy of my new demo CD - whenever I get it done. Hopefully this weekend so I can send James to AC with one - He's spinning at Club Tru down there.


Girl: Maybe I hooked up with you when I was drunk one night
Me:___________________



ok - along with "fucking clitoris" and "razmatazz," I will also discuss the wired and at times inappropriate / disgusting car ride to Long Island from earlier today. Off to bed - to nap for a few hours before work.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

how many assholes we got on this ship?

YO!

Well I'm going to tell you about the asshole that works with catering at Eisenhower Hall in West Point.

Mike Musco and I are changing to go home out of our ugly penguin costumes. This guy walks into the bathroom all bloddied up. Talking to his other friend about how he got fucked up. Now I'm not sure who this guy is - so I'm don't know if he was at the wedding and got into a fight or fell down the stairs drunk or whatever. I look at the guy who now has about 7 bandaids on his face in all different places. So now I ask...

Me - "Bro, what happened?"
Guy - "I was in the back"
Me - "you work here?"
guy - "yeah - so one of the ladies goes what are we gonna do with the wedding cake?"
me - "uh huh"
Guy - "the lady says, 'just throw it out' - so I'm all - you're not gonna throw it out."
Me - "Um - Ok"
Guy - "the lady goes what are ya gonna do with it? I say 'this' "
Mike - "oh man - there's like shelves and posts in there"
Guy - "yeah well I know that now - I won't be doing that again - If I would've known that there was stuff in it - I wouldn't have slammed my face in it as hard as I did - it was full force"
Me - "wow that really sucks - well hope you feel better man"
Friend - "Man you are really fucked up"
Guy - "yeah - we could tell a story about getting in a fight"


So my wise words to you - don't slam your face into a wedding cake - you will fuck up your face. Which is good to know as my family and friends have always had a knack for getting violent with cake.

Monday, August 22, 2005

six feet under - forever

wow - tonight's series finale of six feet under was amazing. I can't even begin to explain what the last 10 minutes of this show felt like, but i'm gonna try. First they used a song called Breathe Me by Sia. Which I heard her perform live with Zero 7 last year. Just amazingly beautiful. And so is the Mylo remix.

Since 2001 - I've watch the show just about every week. In college I had friends tape it for me, and had to tape it at home, or catch the re-run on Monday night. I'm very sad to have to let this go, because somehow the Fisher's have become part of my weekly life.

I'm able to see part of me in every character and it still amazes me how they could recreate life so vividly.

I'm definitely said to see it go, I was worried about the ending not living up to its potential and agreed that this show may have actually never hit its prime. However the last 10 minutes of this show made 5 years of watching it all worth it. There's only a few pieces of entertainment - song, movie, tv or book (not that i do that much) that made me feel what I felt tonight. And I praise them for that.

Ben Folds Five - Evaportaed
Ghost (at the end - yes, I know)
Love Actually (other circumstances involved)

Those are 3 things I can rememeber that actually made me cry and can still do that. I welled up at a Ben Folds concert when I heard the opening chords, and when Ghost is on - I turn it off. Love Actually I've been able to watch again, so I think that has passed.

Why do I bring this up? The show ended, I called Sarah and needed to talk to her. Told her I loved her, and told her I was sad about the show. She asked what happened and I wept. Probably the hardest I've cried since giving a eulogy in the rain at my Uncle's funeral back in December.

I think I threw her off, cuz I was fine after about 3 minutes. But as she well knows, sometimes you cry to feel better. and I do. Well maybe until tomorrow when I watch it again. I'm not sure if the final episode is something you can watch if you've never seen the show before. But if you have an extra 75 minutes and hbo (or bittorent) I would watch it. It puts things in perspective, that life is about being happy and being sad and losing your mind and working hard and making decisions that sometimes suck and other times are great. Unfortunately it also puts into perspective that we can be taken off this planet at anytime.

Once you lose someone, you only have what you've let them leave behind in your heart and soul. and that may never be enough.

and in case you didn't hear me through my tears before - I'm so happy I'm doing this with you.

Frank

- tomorrow hopefully we'll be back to the normal stuff about why you should never slam your face into a wedding cake. i'll explain...

Sunday, August 21, 2005

don't stop believin'

well - i'm not sure where to start - but as usual we'll recap -

i'm sore today from moving lots of equiptment yesterday for this person's son's wedding. It was a great wedding - they really wanted wedding material -like cheesy dances and such - but watching the General do the electric slide with a 5 year old in hand was cute as hell!!

Than there was the little wacky chick with HUGE boobs and her robot dancing boyfriend. It was so strange. this song was a highlight.

Aside from that word has been crazy the past week. my co-worker is leaving and so are my 2 supervisors. which leaves us all in a pretty wierd place. i was told that if i had been there longer i'd be up for the supervisor position which was a great compliment (from both supervisors, seperately and unprovoked)

and now on to last week in philly...

nothing realy to report except that it was the best night i've ever dj-ed ever. Despite one issue that have been discussed with appropriate parties - it was just amazing. People showed up really early thanks to the promoter so we rocked it from about 12:45 to close at 3:20. So many people said it was great, including staff. I was visited in the dj booth by Guido Osorio. In the 90s he teamed up with a person by the name of Razor, and but out a song called "do it again." This is probably the definition of progressive house. Everything I play to an extent. That man comes up to me and tells me I'm doing good, which was absolutely amazing.

So I'm going back for my birthday party on Saturday October 22. I am definitely looking forward to going back.

I was talking to my friend John Rizzo about 2 weeks ago and he said "Everytime I really have thought of stopping doing music, something changes and I get a kick in the ass." Its funny how he said that to me the same week I get complimented at my day job and have my best dj night ever.

and now its a sad night as six feet under will be no more... How's it gonna end?

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

shut up bitch

i thought this was funny

going to Philly to spin @ pure, have a mini vacation with the woman - and oddly enough - see like 7 of my friends. I got lots of good new music! Should be a blast - until next time listen to Darth!

Saturday, July 30, 2005

give it up, baby give it up

So its 2:30am - and for the first time in about 2 weeks I'm not going crazy. All week I've been preparing for a wedding I was djing - and I'm very proud to say that all the preparing paid off well! The party went great, despite a bit of a rocky start. We played an extra 20 mins at the end, until the staff of the place told me I needed to cut the music. Now, I didn't charge for the extra time, however we were tipped REALLY well!
There were some things I had never done before at any party. a) play "hooked on a feeling" coming out of a house set.
b) played o.a.r. - "a crazy game of poker" for anyone that cares
c) watched a man dance so much, sing so hard, and have so much fun that he had a halo of sweat around the top of his shit
d) only played 7 songs that were my own pick. I must say, they really knew their crowd.
e) arrived over 2 hours early!

Now - the best man - yes his speech sucked - yes it was long, boring went nowhere - and used the "last time (insert groom's name) will have the upper hand in the relationship" gag. yes, it did set EVERYTHING back like 15 mins, and people were so happy he was done. now with that said - the videographer did not need to call the groom an "asshole" - repeatedly. Of course not to his face, but to me. Why did he do that? Cuz the videographer was (you guessed it) an asshole. He was complaining about how the speech took up too much time on the film and they won't have as much video of them dancing now. Went on to say he's been doing this for 25 years, yap yap yap. The man at 1 time had 3 drinks, he needed a haircut STAT! Cuz his baldness isn't conducive (spelling?) to have some long hair in the FRONT! The best part, is that he's supposed to be gone at 11pm. Now cake is at 11pm. So he asks to have it moved up to 10:45pm. So I make a comment to the maitre'd about how the guy is being a dick, and he says fuck him we're gonna keep the cake at 11pm. Making him stay against his will. Now we watch him sitting down, taking it easy - I mean this guy could not have been less interested if he was dead. But unfortunately he was very much alive - and a pain in the ass.
so that guy being a douchebag is one of the reasons why we stayed late and didn't even say anything. I mean they asked for an encore. And we gave them a good 25 minute one.

so anyways - I have Philly again in 2 weeks from now (aug12), which should be a whole lot of fun - as it usually is! And def since I have some people coming down for it. I'm also looking to spending the whole weekend in Philly.

I also have to figure something out about work. Which as per the article about the lady that fired her nanny - I will not discuss here. What does suck is that one of my co-workers is on early maternity leave and another is leaving in September. Which makes an interesting workload for the rest of us. and being that 2 people are on vacation next week. There will be 3 of us in the 6 person office next week.

I think that is all to update.

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Stop this bus! Ok thanks

Man - I'm actually sitting down - its been a crazy couple of weeks - since I last posted... I've had 7 DJ jobs - all over NY, NJ, and PA. Had another laser eye evaluation - had massive amounts of lack of sleep - and have spent about 8 waking hours with the fiance. Oh right an the 40 hours a week at my counseling job.

but all for the most part is good. Lots of random spur of the moment DJ jobs - all which have gone reasonably well. Had some great nights (St. John's Sorority Formal) - and some not so great nights (Marvin's brother's graduation party) - oddly enough I just named the 1st and last parties.

Then we had some strange ones in between - Pride in Philly (very fun, despite an inconsistent crowd till 11pm - still wonder why they hire the straight guy to do pride? - not complaining - trust me)
and there was the show with Kukurudu - first time with a live drummer - well aside from me bring drunk on new years or 4th of July. And I guess that's really just me playing with myself. Anyways! There was also a belly dancer - We should have pics of that really soon. As well as some backwards pics of me drumming and Jamie with headphones on.

So today I'm off to my friend Adam's "I was supposed to married today party" - which will be an interesting day - and as I've told him I hope it doesn't become a "I want to jump off a bridge party"

And tonight and tomorrow - I actually get to see the fiance - which is nice - and I only know what she looks like over the past 3 weeks as a) asleep or b) before I'm fully awake. She is wearing a skirt today - that makes me happy.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

4th Of July

So here's the invitation you've all been waiting for. Sneak peek for those that view my blog :)

Come one, come all - just come!


4th of July Posted by Hello

Pure on Sunday

here's something that made my day - hope there's a good turn out sunday!
Right click and go to "play" to start and stop the animation or click here for a fullscreen shot.

This will only be up for a few days - cuz i'm sure it'll annoy the hell out of everyone. Kinda like the whistling - and the girls voice.


*links removed*

Sunday, May 29, 2005

let's hug it out bitch!

the best ad for a show - man this is too damn funny. Download the song! Watch Season 2! Too funny!

and remember - let's hug it out bitch!

Frank

Sa-tur-day, Sa-ta-day, Saaaa-tur-day...

Sometimes you go out on a Saturday night and you get home early - like 1:15am - which to me is kinda like leaving in the 7th inning of a baseball game in order to beat the traffic. Something that shouldn't happen often. However you come home and realize that high school still exists - that other people are online at 1:15am on a Saturday night. I guess everyone abided by their curfew this evening. Some people got high and were looking at stuff on ebay - some were sleeping - and some were well - frustrated...

FM3Red5: I thought you were going down the shore tonight?
NACatarino: i will give u 3 guesses as to what happened
FM3 Red5: um ok
NACatarino: 3 answers on the board
NACatarino: 100 people surveyed
NACatarino: what are the most common causes of going down the shore and being back within 2 hours
FM3 Red5: oh dear - line was too long?
NACatarino: good answer that's # 3
FM3 Red5: ok 2 more answers
FM3 Red5: um - you couldn't find your friends?
NACatarino: good answer again that's # 2
NACatarino: do want to play or pass
FM3 Red5: hahahaha
NACatarino: and the number 1 answer on the board is....
FM3 Red5: um i guess i'll pass (to who i have no idea)
NACatarino: WIFE FORGETS ID!!!!!!
FM3 Red5: oh fuck
NACatarino: yup
FM3 Red5: see - the thing is - how many times has that happened to you?
NACatarino: 0
FM3 Red5: it happened to me - 1x i think, maybe 2
NACatarino: yeah, i gave her a pass on the 1st time
NACatarino: next time, there will be troubles


until next Saturday night...

Frank

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

All through the blog...

I got a message the other day that read "It's been a month. Update your blog!" So I'm guessing I should. It's almost midnight and I've been out and about all day - but I'll keep my fans happy - and give you some insider info - since I assure you I will be too lazy to update my website. Which needs a massive fucking overhaul.

the short short version - last week was both nine inch nails @ hammerstein and Star Wars: episode 3. Oddly enough - both were partially a let down. For NIN, it wasn't the best show I've ever seen them do. some of the old favorites given a break for a few rarities and new tracks. which tends to happen when bands make a new album. but I digress. the crowd was full of fans - which also included david bowie (who we saw on the balcony), chris rock and matt pinfield. Trent's grandfather also on the balcony. not that I have any idea what he looks like - but it was reported. You know you're getting old when they play "wish" and the crowd can't mosh for the whole song. All together a really solid show - the hand that feeds rocked live, and so did eveything really - a straight set of like 19 songs - no encore - the way shows should be! We all had a blast - me, fuji, karen and danny - Danny came out of the pit with a guitar string from a broken guitar - it's now in "the box" along with my other NIN memorabilia.

Speaking of memorabilia - onto the dark side of the force - episode 3 - a good movie - finally this whole thing really comes to a close. I don't think the 3 prequels did the star wars saga justice. as I keep saying - acting, directing and script are not george lucas' strong points. I think he managed to masacre the 2 most critical parts of the entire star wars universe. as a whole - it was good. not great. but good. I think in order of how I like them:

Episode 4 - A New Hope
Episode 6 - Return of the Jedi
Episode 5 - Empire Strikes Back
Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith
Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace
Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones

So again - as a whole it was really good, the special effects rocked and the fight scenes were amazing. But despite it all - it makes me want to pop in one of the 4 original trilogies I have on VHS to remember why I love it all so much. and why I have it on my arm and why it's the basis for my dj logo and why I'm all together fucking crazy.

I no longer work at the waterloo - which is a nice break! I've worked Saturdays for the past 3 years. Even when I had off on a Saturday, I usually switched for a different night or something. So I have some private parties - and 2 club gigs.

Sunday, June 12 - Pure in Philly - Pridefest - 6pm-12am
Thursday, June 23 - Karma Lounge - with Kukurudu doing live drums - 10pm-4am

So those should be a blast! Make it out for either of those. more infor to come on djfrankmanzo.com soon.

So - the day job is going well - but I've had these trainings in the city which can be long tedious days - no I need to get to bed to get a whopping 5 1/2 hours of sleep now. Hopefully i'll update again sooner than later - lots more to bs about

Frank

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

I get so mad...

when i go to someone's blog and its not updated - hello mr. pot, hello mr. kettle. So i figured - I needed to update. I mean thats what this is here for. I'm currently listening to the new NIN cd that i downloaded 2 weeks before it comes out. I'm thoroughly confused as to what is going through Mr. Reznor's drug and alcohol free head. We have the most radio friendly song since "closer" hit the airwaves, and i think its fantastic. It's called "The Hand That Feeds" or THTF for short. And then they release the song via nin.com for the public to remix. i mean i now have a NIN acapella. Things I never thought. Other than that, ben folds new album out next week, last week was Garbage's Bleed Like Me. It's another time where I get to hear lots of good new music. For a new good cd - pick up Ringside. It's like $7 in best buy this week. and WELL worth it! Oh right - and there was a new Beck album a few weeks ago - the best track on that is only on the special edition. It's called "clap hands" and sounds like a Neptunes production. Much better than the Neptunes most recent - B-A-N-A-N-A-S - joint. (If you don't know what i'm talking about, turn on z100 for about 20 mins - extra points if you hear the Staten Island parody version - 1 hint - G-A-R-B-A-G-E - I have yet to hear it)

So let's see - aside from music - i've been working a whole lot, and looking for a break - which i'll get tomorrow night as i go out to hear billy carroll and then my favorite superchumbo. - which i guess is still talking about music.

i got my 6 month evaluation at work today - on a scale of 1-4 i got all 3's and 4's - which i was pretty happy about. mostly due to this little devil conscience sitting on my shoulder telling me about how i'm going to get fired. But i think i'm good at what i'm doing now.

well i just got a call about possibly djing at Temple (across from Roseland) on Friday - we'll see how this going. Damn - straight clubs - whats that like? Oh right "how many people can you do?" - "there will be 3 djs over the whole night" - but it's getting my foot back into the giant door of NYC. -

ok i'll put it up here - this is 90% done -

Friday April 22, 2005
Temple
240 52nd st (btw 8th ave and Bway) (Across from Roseland Ballroom)

Doors @ 10pm
Free till Midnight
Open Bar till 11:30pm

More details to follow...

thats all for now...

Friday, April 01, 2005

whir yourself around

i'm very tired...so much going on - i don't even remember when the past post was. I had a funeral yesterday, for hmm..how do i put this...my mom's sister's husband's father. my grandfather-in-law? well his other son (not my uncle) is tazz from the WWE. so when it was brought to my attention from friends that tazz's dad died - it was kind of violating - to ME! very strange to me, and the first time I thought how it must suck to be famous. but i've moved on since then, and i'm doing better now.

I was sick as hell last week and still haven't gotten better...and you know what - i need sleep - and i'm going to continue this tomorrow...until then read these...


An interview with Billy Carroll that mentions me

An article that has to do with me, unemployment, pearl jam and the woman

An article about hating jews...seriously...some of the quotes in here are quite shocking. I really never thought FDU was that jew-ey (jon stewart term).


finally - Terri Schiavo is dead - (great transition, as her maiden name is Schlindler) - which sucks - because death sucks - I just hope that I never have to see anyone on TV suffer like that again. Fucking horrible. I don't really have a pull the plug opinion in this case - however I just hope the media now pulls the plug on this. I watched South Park last night -Kenny's last wish - not to be seem on TV like that. And for a woman who was bulimic - to be seen like that on the CNN news ticker - i'm sure that if she could think coherently - she would've been pretty fucking upset that her vegitative state was all over the tv.

thats my innapropriate political statement for the day. - and to quote jon stewart "if you needed to know how sick you have to be for the government to care about your health - there you go"

to bed - talk more about having what i have been calling "something like the flu" - Pure in Philly, feedback from the Kirtzman wedding - and whatever else comes up - tomorrow - or whenever i get to it.

Frank

Friday, March 18, 2005

take it

i don't have a total point to this - lots of my stress is gone - so very happy right now. Over the weekend I had 2 dj jobs that were crazy. Friday was the new club - I made my money - but it wasn't the best turnout - and they weren't that into club music. or any music for that matter. Some of them were really into complaining though!

The gay wedding I DJ-ed went amazing. And i got a voice mail from Billy Carroll today telling me that groom and the groom loved me. So i was (still am) very happy about it. One of them is a pretty high profile individual. I will tell you that Sam Champion is a queen. And to quote Marvin - "oh i've seen him in heels at the roxy." Funny Shit! When I told Sarah's uncle he immediately yelled "i knew it" - apparently Sarah's aunt and uncle had a discussion about Sammy a few months back.

So now next friday - it's back to philly - which I'm very happy about. I'm also excited for some new music coming around - like the new NIN - the hand that feeds. And looking forward to may to see them live - again.

Sarah's off to LA for the weekend - so i can sleep late Saturday - which is kinda nice. I'm happy I have a weekend mostly free. Kinda nice. So if you're around - feel free to give me a ring - i'm looking to get out for a bit at some point. possible options - clubs, skiing, music shopping, working on car, nothing, star wars trilogy. and anything else that may come up.

take it

Frank

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Holy CRAP!

Ok that link - its the new usher - and it might be the worst written song ever! You decide right here. Man - how does someone make money doing that. makes my think britney could sing the Anamaniac's "Countries of the World" and it be a hit. God - how do the ears of human beings not just turn off forever when you hear this heartfelt ballad by usher - "oo baby if you log onI'll make you dot com" - fuck! Makes Right Said Fred a lyrical fucking genius and maybe "I'm too sexy" deserves a Grammy. FUCK! Ok I'm done - I hope.

This comes at a time where I'm actually pretty happy with music. The new alt rock coming around is phenomenal. Not that I like it all, but its refreshing none the less. Noteable are The Bravery. A new band from NYC, thats been getting lots of buzz. Check'em out if you get a chance. iTunes has some of their stuff. Nine Inch Nails, Garbage and Beck all have new albums by May. So I think I should make up a new music fund. Although this has been helping me get some new music and enjoy my favorite soda. (as reported in the last post)

So much has gone on - and so much is coming up. I really can't believe it's been a month without updating this. There's been so much going on - we'll recap.

I'm almost healed from the whole snowboarding protien bar impalement senario. Got an x-ray, no problems. Just 6 weeks of feeling like a complete tool. Hoping to get back to the gym this week or next week. Just in time to drop $200 for membership. Been working a lot, and there's been a lot ging on all around. I did get to go to lake placid and do some cool things. I posted 2 pics below - Bob-O-Sledding - Craziness at 60mph.

This past weekend was Sarah's birthday extravaganza. From a great sushi dinner to a trip to the met - She seemingly shook out of the birthday funk she was in. I'm sure she'll tell everyone about it.

As for me - a few other things. This Friday - March 11 and Friday - March 25

There's a big private party this coming Saturday which I hope goes well. After all that we're almost in April - which is def crazyiness. So till next time.

Frank

That's me before I fear for my life in a crazy 35 seconds Posted by Hello

The Miracle on Ice Posted by Hello

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

life is viewtiful

nothing says fun like online controversey. Here I am putting myself out there, really for no reason but to be a pain in the ass. Well thats and this blog needed an update.

First - I'm in pain, physical pain. I bruised a rib snowboarding on Sunday. I fell on my protein bar on my first run down the mountain. Well really a hill. Mt. Snow is a mountain. Camelback is nice, but its not much of a mountain. So it's wednesday and I'm still in pain. I thought I was getting better, but some activity yesterday seems to have made it hurt a bit more all day. But, on Tuesday I see a doctor for the first time in years, which I'm excited about. Not for my ribs, but just for a checkup. I am excited for health insurance.

2nd - iTunes rocks - aside from free songs every week. Pepsi teamed back up with apple to give away free songs. You buy a 20oz Pepsi, or in my case, a Diet Pepsi and 1 in 3 bottles wins a free song. The best part is you can cheat. You can angle the bottle a certain way to always buy a winning bottle. I bought 6 bottles the other day, all winners! So you end up paying like 50 cents for a diet pepsi. I mean this is almost like heaven to me - I love music, I love Diet Pepsi, and I love free stuff!!!

Aside from that, work has been pretty stressful this week, so like our little vixen, I will be taking 1/2 of friday to chill out and take some personal time. I earned all that comp time already this week, so it's actually fine that I leave early.

So aside from that things are good. Dj-ing been picking up, so I'm happy about that. Until the next time.

Frank

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Say what? 80s Disco all night long

so here we are - face to face - a couple of .....

ok lets start over - few things to report -

a) cam'ron has a new track that uses the music to hill street blues.

b) I feel like Sarah promoting random blog sites - but i like this one http://www.stereogum.com/ It's all about music, and its also kind of random. They seem to have fun with it.

c) It looks like I'm going to DJ a gay wedding in March. The main dilemma is that i don't really know what 80s disco is. Now before you people start going all "ah ah ah ah Staying Alive" on me - I said 80s disco. So it will be an educational evening musically. And it'll be cool to attend a gay wedding, despite I guess that it is technically illegal activity. But who cares really. As I keep hearing - why should we ban gay marriage - they should have the opportunity to be just as miserable as straight married couples are. Whoo Hoo! October 7, 2006!

Aside from that gearing up for next tuesday, Feb 1. Why do you ask? I'll tell you! It's the first day I get health insurance!!! Yeah - Yeah! And that will be just in time for the superbowl ski day! Which will be followed by fireworks inside Tommy's house.

Tomorrow is aparently the apocolypse - so none of this will matter. I'm excited - I can't wait to tell my kids about the day the world ended.

Be excellent to each other.

Thursday, January 20, 2005

it's been a hard day's night and I've been working like a blog

Well its been a while since I've last posted. Lots gone on - so let's start

(Casey Kasem Voice) First - we go to Frank from Staten Island - while on my little ski vacation in Vermont with 4 gays guys - I got a voicemail from my friend Adam. Adam said he was reading my blog about my favorite albums of the year. He saw that I had listen Jamie Cullum's Twentysomething as #7. Adam mentioned he had been looking at the cd in a store, but did not buy it. After reading my blog, he thought "well if it's one of Frank's top CDs, it must be good." Adam purchased the CD and said it is an amazing CD and loves it very much. Adam died - no joking. Casey, can you please play "twentysomething" for Adam in New Jersey, as he's going through what Sarah and Tomato Nation call a 1/4 life crisis. Frank, here's your request and dedication. Fucking Ponderous.

So back to life as we know it. Work has been crazy this week. One of my kids decided to celebrate MLK day by going crazy. She's made it MLK Makes me C-RA-ZY week. So i'm on the edge of my seat with her. But life will go on, well for me. You know it's bad when your supervisor tells the kid "you can run away, but i'd wait till June when it's warmer."

Had some fun (isn't it always) car trouble. One of those instances where you bring it in for 1 thing and they find somethign else wrong with it. As a co worker put it - it's like going to the doctor for a cold and finding out you have cancer.

back to the dedication - We did have a fantastic time skiing - and i'm looking for round 2 on SUPER(bread)BOWL(with chilli)SUNDAY. Hopefully this year we'll actually get to see this year's "wardrobe malfunction."

This Saturday me and the woman are going scuba diving - well training for it. Which will be really bizarre since it's going to snow on Saturday night. Well thats about it - ok I lied - I'm getting very excited as Nine Inch Nails have announced that they will be touring really soon. 2 dates already set in London. I can't wait for a date around NYC, and for their new album "with teeth" set to come out around May. But we'll see, Trent is infamous for delaying albums and tours.

Back to the waterloo for me Saturday. Oh yippee... I updated www.djfrankmanzo.com (well Sarah did) so go check out the set from the last time in Philly. I'll be keeping you posted on some new stuff going on as well. till next time -

keep you feet on the ground and keep giving a reach around

Frank


Wednesday, January 05, 2005

iTunes Top 15 Albums of 2004 Link

Go here with iTunes and you will be able to see tracks from my top 15 albums of 2004. That way all those that care (or have tons of time to kill) can get to listen in on what I think is the best music of 2004.

Look for an iTunes Top 50 Songs of 2004 coming soon.

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Happy 2005

well we're here now in 2005 - so I figured I'd wish everyone a happy new year to all and hope your new years resolution isn't failed 4 days in. I haven't come up with one yet. Possibly to accurately count the number of people attending a bash at 174 Foster rd. This year's original count was 9. And we ended up with about 50. But it was a blast. Club Manzo was in effect - raving in the living room to some great progressive house tracks. From what I remember - songs like "Final Chapter," "La La Land" and "Sandstorm" were played - rather loudly. We had a teriffic time, and I can only hope we can do that again. Thanks for all those that came, those that cleaned up, those that tried to take out my contact lenses and those that were very nice to me in my day of being hungover. Obviously the last 2 involve the person that still wants to spend the rest of her life with me.

So anyways - Here we go with that top 50 list of my favorite songs of 2004. However I must say 2005 has already been musically educational. Check out a band called "the bravery" and I finally listened to the Green Day CD, which would've made it to the top cds of 2004 if I had listened to it before Jan 2nd. So here you go - I'd love all comments. I'm ready for them.

1. Kanye West – Jesus Walks
Just an amazing track – He explains why this track rocks in his lyrics
2. Britney Spears – Breathe On Me
Ok I know – It’s Britney – But the song is wonderful and sexy. And not in that I’m a white trash whore kind of sexy. You can make a good song – but you can still be trash
3. Shape UK – Lola’s Theme
A house track with trumpets! That’s the Shit! Oh right the lyrics make me jump up and down so hard I skip the record at Pure
4. Nelly Furtado – Forca
If I explain I’ll be beating a dead horse
5. Keane – Bend and Break
One of my favorite bands of the year – best track on the album
6. Snow Patrol – Run
See Above
7. Switchfoot – Meant To Live
One more time – See Above
8. Superchumbo f/ Celeda – DirthyFilthy
The best dirty tribal track I’ve ever heard. So much fun!
9. Jamie Cullum – Frontin’
A jazz cover of Jay-Z and Pharell - Genius
10. Jem – 24
This chick is awesome, and this is the best song on her album
11. Utada – Devil Inside (All Mixes)
Every mix, including the original, makes this song so great. Listen to it over and over
12. The Killers – Somebody Told Me
Jump up and down to some electronic punk rock. And a damn catchy line!
13. Rachael Yamagata - Worn Me Down
Again – the best track off a great album. A great live performer as well, unlike #49.
14. Maroon 5 – This Love
Played out? Hell Yeah. Love it? Yeap
15. Outkast – Roses
They can do no wrong. Caroline!
16. Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
In the same line with the Killers. Catchy as shit.
17. Nelly w/ Tim McGraw – Over and Over
Ladies – for the ladies. Finally something new – hip hop and country! What?
18. Sia - Breathe Me (Mylo Remix)
You’ve prob never heard it, unless you listen to Zero 7. This is the 2nd sexiest song of the year. Hmm.. Maybe the word Breathe is just sexy
19. David Morales – How Would You Feel
He brings back some needed soul into house music again
20. Gavin DeGraw – I Don’t Wanna Be
guitar + angst = my adolescence / softer sound. Takes me back, in a Pearl Jam’s “Daughter” kinda way
21. Linkin Park / Jay-Z – Numb/Encore
because mash-ups are cool for 2004
22. Stacy Burket f/ Audio Angel – Shakedown (Superchumbo Mix)
Another dance track that stands above the rest
23. Ben Folds – Give Judy My Notice
Ben goes back to write good old pop love songs
24. John Legend – Used to Love U
hip hop - or soul - or both. New voice - old school feel
25. Modest Mouse – Float On
Once again - a great song - catchy as shit - album blows
26. Nina Sky – Move Ya Body
this gets the award for the slowest house song - this one got sped up right away. this will get play for years
27. Destiny’s Child – Lose My Breath
it was only a matter of time till the "drumline" movie had a theme song. makes me want to march in place really fast
28. Kaskade – Steppin’ Out
slowing down house music and making it nice and groovy
29. Kylie Minogue – Slow (Chemical Brothers Remix)
Sexy track #3 - Chemical Brothers makes Kylie even hotter than the video for this song
30. Dave Armstrong – Make Your Move
80s sample? check! Repetitious beat? Check! All over it like white on rice? CHECK!
31. John Mayer – Daughters
Sometimes I'm a sucker for a sappy track.
32. No Doubt – It’s My Life
best 80s cover of the year - however they get the award for the most random cover that made me play the original more than anything else.
33. Blink 182 – I Miss You
Blink 182 does their best attempt at Green Day's "Time of Your Life" - except this one didn't get played out
34. Counting Crows – Accidentally In Love
Stupid stupid stupid! Shrek Shrek Shrek!
35. Green Day –American Idiot
In 94 - it was about being too lazy to masturbate - in 04 its being too lazy to think (for ourselves) - and I can still relate
36. Jill Scott – My Petition
As read above - this is my favorite track from her album. Honestly - there's something really cool about this song. Sounds like an old Diana Ross track.
37. Velvet Revolver – Fall To Pieces
Scott Weiland is back - a radio friendly track - but reminds us that he's still able to belt out a great song. I'm sure that belt is than used to tie off his vein, but what ya gonna do
38. Mike Doughty – Move On
Mr. soul coughing makes a track that makes me want to vote for Kerry - like I needed more reasons
39. Mobb Deep – Got It Twisted
80s sample? check! Thick hip hop beats? Check! Holy shit - She Blinded me with science! Creative Genius!
40. Lisa Hunt – The Joint is Jumpin’ (BlueRoom Mixshow)
This track makes me scream for more - a dancefloor jam for peak time.
41. Zero 7 – In Time
slow it way way down - the feel good song to listen before bed
42. Josh Rouse – James
a free itunes download - worth every penny
43. Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama
No it's not Elton John, but it might as well be. Catchy and cute - but I dunno who's Mama they want to take out
44. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – Maps
this gets the Nirvana award for most unintelligible track of the year. But sometimes understanding words don't mean shit.
45. Beyonce – Me, Myself and I
Ok so - This is 1 of 2 songs that I must admit I really liked this year. And #49 is coming soon.
46. Frou Frou – Holding out for a Hero
The best reinvention of an 80s song - its on the Shrek Soundtrack - sounds so damn cool! Whoo Hoo Frou Frou
47. Sondre Lerche – Two Way Monologue
Probably the oddest song - his voice is wierd and so is his sound. And shit so is his damn name! But this song makes me wonder what else he can come up with.
48. Usher f/ Ludacris & Lil John – Yeah!
Played out? YEAH YEAH! WHAT? OKAY! Does it make people dance? YEAH! YEAH! WHAT? OKAY!
49. Ashley Simpson – Pieces of Me
Ashley Simpson blows - and the twat can't sing. Her songwriter and producers came up with a great song here. Wish it was someone else that we would remember in years to come.
50. Mase – Welcome Back
Mr. Slow Rappin' comes back with a track - with a sample. A 70s sample here. From Welcome Back fuckin' Kotter. What thinks of this shit? Why can't I do that?

So there you have it. Enjoy - or berate me. I'm can take take!