Falling Back Into Jazz

I have been trying to listen to more jazz these days, as well as bossa nova. I usually do this every time it gets to be Fall, because something feels right about it. Mind you, I am not an expert on jazz by any stretch. I cannot really tell the artists apart like I can with different guitar styles from the classic rock genre, but jazz on the whole is something I have been trying to appreciate more. Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Vince Guaraldi, Stan Getz, and Charlie Byrd are a handful of artists I’ve picked up to name a few.

I have always been more laid back, which is why I prefer a jazz club or lounge to a place that has extremely loud music. Typically, those places are crowded to the max for one, and secondly you cannot hear shit and have to yell at the top of your lungs to be heard by anyone. It is not that those places are not fun to go to from time to time, but I am really more into chilling than being in one of those kinds of environments.

Smoky bars, lounges, and pool halls are really more of the environments I enjoy. They are all places you can just chill and relax. They had a lot of those in Sinatra’s time. Lounges were fairly abundant, and going out to jazz clubs was commonplace on the weekends. There was a certain class about those places that simply does not exist today. It is really a shame too.

It is fairly hard to find a decent jazz club or lounge these days. Those kinds of places can only be found in the metropolitan areas, and unfortunately here in Youngstown, we are limited to mostly the unsatisfying clubs that play rap constantly. As a side note, I do not know how rap as a genre has remained around for as long as it has, but when it dies, I will be there.

I can appreciate almost every genre of music out there, but rap still remains a mystery on my list. Not to be a traitor to my generation, but, in short, it sucks worse than my friend Jim Shaw.

Jazz as a style is very interesting, and it has evolved over the years. There are so many different variations that have developed that it is hard to keep track of all of them. As mentioned above, I am a fan of bossa nova as well as other styles like cool jazz and jazz fusion. But there are so many other different variations, it would take a significant amount of time to get through and appreciate the other styles.

I have included a few songs for you to enjoy. The first is by Miles Davis, the second is by Stan Getz, and the third is by Herbie Hancock.

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Enjoy!

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Enjoyer of Jazz

Get Ready for the Buckeyes 2009! Oh, and Did I Mention the Big 10 is a Weak Conference?

It is that time of year again! We are sitting only a week out from the opening game at THE Ohio State University and it is going to shape up to be an interesting year. There should be some interesting matchups this season, with not only the usual Big 10 suspects, but a visitor from all the way out in Los Angeles. Our PAC-10 rivals, the USC Trojans, will be making their first visit to the Horseshoe in 19 years.

The last time they were here, Cooper elected to call the game (and the ensuing defeat to USC) when a thunderstorm overtook Columbus when there was about 2:36 left on the clock with the score at 35-26.

Understandably, the fans were outraged that Cooper elected to make this call. Of course, for Buckeye fans generally, if there was a tsunami with a tidal wave a mile high heading towards the stadium, they probably would choose to keep playing so long as the wave would not arrive until the game ended. When it comes to PAC-10 rivals, you keep playing regardless of how dangerous it is outside. We want to beat the hell out them, safety be damned.

Today I want to talk about the Big 10 generally, because the current makeup is the conference is troubling to me. To put it as plainly as I can, no Big 10 team will ever beat a Big 12 or an SEC team in a bowl game given a couple of different factors. The Big 10 has a much better shot with the PAC-10, but I still would have to give the edge to the PAC-10.

Our conference stinks folks. As a whole, the Big 10 is one of the weaker conferences in the league. We are not as bad as the Big East or the ACC (though the ACC tends to be run hot and cold depending on the year), but certainly we fail to match up against the bigger powers in the NCAA. Let me show you what I am talking about.

The following is a listing of the teams in major conferences.

Big 10 members: Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue, and Northwestern.

Big 12 members: Texas, Iowa State, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Baylor, Kansas State.

SEC members: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt.

PAC 10 members: Arizona, Arizona State, California (Cal), Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, and Washington State.

And of course… Notre Dame, no conference. They really ought to join the Big 10, however much I hate them as a team. ND is just one of those teams to have to love to hate I guess.

Clearly, the Big 10 has some weaker teams. It is not that these teams are bad, because they do go to the bowl games and even win sometimes. It just when comparing them to the rest of the NCAA, they just do not seem to be major contenders. The PAC-10 is more manageable for our purposes of playing them, but if you look at the SEC or the Big 12, there is no comparison.

In short, of the above conferences, which would you really prefer to play in given the teams?

The reality is that the Big 12 teams and SEC teams play in very difficult conferences, and the number of powerhouses a team like Texas or LSU plays in a season far exceeds the difficulty and caliber of team someone like Ohio State or Penn State would play in the regular season. Big 12 and SEC teams play at that high level constantly, whereas Ohio State has a hard time beating a school like Minnesota some years.

The playing styles differ significantly as well, and the kind of football a Big 10 team is used to playing is very different from that the SEC plays. The fact is Big 10 football cannot beat SEC football, unless they find some serious speed and play some very in-your-face smashmouth football.

I am hoping for a great Buckeye season this year, in light of the fact we have a lot to work on. I have been hearing good things about Pryor and the defensive line, though it is also my understanding that there are still some unknowns concerning the offensive line. We will see what happens.

I was fortunate enough to get two USC tickets this year (out of sheer luck mind you), so I am looking forward to going back to Columbus to watch the Buckeyes stomp all over the asses of the Trojans. And we need to trounce our west coast foes, because after last year, the Buckeyes ought to be pissed as hell.

And this time, I do not want to hear any talk about calling a game because of weather. If there is a tornado in the middle of the Horseshoe, Tressel better have his men play around it. We’ll just try and hold onto the seats.

Go BUCKS! Below you will find a classic from the McCoys.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Proud Buckeye Fan and Alumnus

Youngstown Deserves a Legitimate Town Hall

I believe the 6th and 17th Districts in Ohio deserve a legitimate debate on healthcare. When I say that, I mean a legitimate environment where people can gather in a town hall setting and hash out the issues. I do not mean a teleconference where Congressmen can decide who asks what questions in a highly controlled environment. I do not mean a teleconference that lasts for a little over an hour where maybe eight questions can be fully addressed amidst a few thousand callers that most certainly will not have their questions answered. When you have the latter two situations, you are basically solidifying your position by setting up an environment that is conducive to your position while marginalizing the opposition.

There was a healthcare panel at Youngstown State tonight, though it was largely ignored by the local media. I know this because I helped put it together. It is not like we did not send out numerous press releases ahead of time. It is not like we did not inform the television and radio networks that we planned to have something. For whatever the reason, the local media on the whole decided not to do us any favors such as merely announcing a town hall was happening in the city of Youngstown. God forbid, ten seconds may be too much to bear for a story that is decent that is not about someone getting killed in Mahoning County (which tends to be very repetitive after awhile).

A town hall meeting in Youngstown is happening while both Congressmen refuse to address their constituents. One would think this would be big news, especially for this town. Apparently I was sorely mistaken in my judgment, as was the rest of the Allen for Congress campaign. Certain individuals have opined on why this has happened, and after having listened to them I think now I can understand why. Regardless, a mere ten second announcement would have sufficed. I am not asking for a four minute spot here.

We invited the Congressmen to come and present their side of the healthcare issue in an effort to have a fair and balanced debate. This was not meant to be an ambush, I can assure you. The Congressmen were both invited to bring themselves and whomever else they wanted, including their own experts. If you do not believe that the Congressmen were invited, we have the certified letter return receipts to back up that they did in fact receive our invitations.

Here is my gripe.

The incumbents will do what they have to do. The media will do what it has to do. And we will do what we have to do. That is granted.

However, when the representatives from a district are practically inaccessible, especially when it comes to opposition, it would be reasonable to do something for people looking for an outlet to express themselves. The only way to do that is by holding our own events, and asking the media to simply inform the people we are doing them.

Unfortunately, when the media refuses to cover a story as big as a healthcare town hall during a time when the issue of healthcare is all the rage (both literally and figuratively), and this same event is sponsored in light of the fact our current representation refuses to address the issue publicly, everyone loses. I can personally guarantee that if the media did its job by announcing we were having this event like they so willingly did for Congressmen Ryan and Wilson, we would have had a packed house. And that is something I’d bet my savings on, because I know how angry people are right now.

As it stands, 70% of the hall was filled up, and we actually had a decent discussion on the topic of healthcare. Thank goodness for Dan Rivers promoting our event, because God knows no one else did, no matter how many times we asked. Even after 24 years of living here, this town still amazes me.

Thanks to WFMJ for making the trip out to get some footage, as well as Dan Rivers of 570. Also thanks to the Jambar for coming out. I believe there were other print outlets here tonight, so I will reserve my thanks until I can ascertain who was here.

Of course, thanks to the panel of Dr. Donald Allen, Dr. Chuck McGowan, David Hahn, and Bill Johnson. And thanks to the YSU College Republicans for hosting this event and all of their volunteers.

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The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Pursuer of a Real Healthcare Debate

Songs for Back to School

I am leaving Oklahoma City in a few hours, and in the meantime I have been trying to put together an MP3 playlist together for the flight home. I am thinking one of those Fall or back to class type themes. I posted a few songs on Facebook, but I want to expand on the list here in this special edition of Mang Now.

I am not going back to school this Fall, and it is the first time in my life when this has happened. It feels extremely weird and unusual, and believe it or not I actually will miss those days more than I can describe in words here—seriously. Truth be told, I doubt that feeling will ever leave me and it probably will be something I carry the rest of my life.

Nonetheless, I still love the feeling of going back to school in the fall, and hence why I am making this playlist of familiar favorites. I was never a fan of going back to school until my days in college. It was a time to see old friends again and to meet new ones, and my junior and senior years at YSU were the best years of my life so far. As a result, the following music puts me in a good mood, and that is something I usually need from time to time.

A lot of these songs come from movies associated with going back to school. I am going to try to avoid using songs we actually did listen to as kids for a lot of different reasons, most notably that they usually make me sick to my stomach to hear them. For example, “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer would not be a song I will include on this list, because even though it is a decent song, it makes me really depressed. “I Don’t Want to Wait” (from Dawson’s Creek) is another one which is a cool song, just it is attached to a part of life I do not really want to go back to for different reasons.

In short, anything post high school is fine, and anything that was before my time is cool.

A Sampling of The Mang’s Recommendations:


Grease—Frankie Valli

Hot for Teacher—Van Halen

American Girl—Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (from Fast Times at Ridgemont High)

The Stroke—Billy Squier (from Billy Madison)

Tenderness—General Public (from both Weird Science and Clueless)

Another Brick in the Wall—Pink Floyd

No More Mr. Nice Guy—Alice Cooper (NOTE: Not including “School’s Out for Summer”)

Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo—Rick Derringer (from Dazed and Confused)

If You Were Here—Thompson Twins (from Sixteen Candles)

Hot Blooded—Foreigner (Fall of 1978)

Burning Down the House—Talking Heads (From Revenge of the Nerds and also from Mike Rantilla’s MP3 player for our first Federal Tax exam when he was trying to get himself pumped up)

Are You Ready?—Ya Ya (Also from Revenge of the Nerds)

It’s the End of the World As We Know It—R.E.M. (I think we have all felt this at times)

Let it Rock—Bon Jovi (reminds me of senior year at YSU, as well as anything from Bon Jovi. I think I got big into Bon Jovi’s music that summer before)

Nothin’ But a Good Time—Poison

Turn Up the Radio—Autograph

Don’t Fear the Reaper—Blue Oyster Cult

Even Flow—Pearl Jam

Holiday—Green Day

There is a bunch of other stuff, but I am sure you get the basic idea.

That is all for now from The Mang. Hopefully I will see you all soon when I get back to Youngstown.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Visiting Emperor of Badasses of Oklahoma City

Cimarron's Steak House and Slick Willie's Family Pool Hall in OKC!

Today I began to realize that traveling alone can be a lonely thing. Personally, I hate eating alone. I mean, I absolutely HATE it. It is not even so much an issue of the company rather than looking like a complete lame ass sitting at a booth or table by myself. I mean, there is a legitimate reason why that may be: I’m here on business and there is no one to go out with. If there is a bar, I will usually go there and eat because it does not look nearly as awkward. The waitress probably is thinking, “Shit, I have to wait on this one guy and my tip is going to be shit”. It is what it is.

In light of that, today was actually a pretty good day. Work went smoothly (thank God), and the people I worked with were very nice and personable. This has not always been the case, and I have found it is usually the workers at the stores outside the cities that are nicer and easier to work with. There are the exceptions of course, but largely this holds true.

I had an awesome steak tonight, regardless of the fact I was once again eating alone. It was at this cool place known as Cimarron Steak House. The inside was really interesting to look at: there were wagons hung from the ceiling and about forty or so saddles. There was also a ton of pictures, as well as deer heads and such. And the steak was very, very good. A guy can get spoiled here off the steak in Oklahoma: done perfectly, seasoned correctly, and juicy. Back home it is hit or miss unfortunately, so I will enjoy the steak I am not paying for while I can.

Tonight I decided to try my hand at some pool. There is a massive pool hall known as “Slick Willie’s Family Pool Hall”, though I am more than certain the world family was an error on the part of the owner.

First of all, I love pool halls. I have a certain affinity for them and if I could I would hang out in one routinely, if not on a daily basis. There is just something about them that I love, and they are almost nostalgic in a way since they are not nearly as common place as they once used to be. I always think of James Dean, Frank Sinatra, and Marilyn Monroe when I think of pool halls, which may be why I am so attracted to them. Mind you, I am not the best pool player, but damn it, I don’t care. Anyone who has seen me play pool knows I cannot break worth a damn, but the rest of my game is passable. Not great, but I can put up a decent fight.

Now, this pool hall is AWESOME. AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME. I mean it in every sense of the word. First, you have a ton of pool tables, so it is not a problem getting a table. Second, you have these hot girls that work the place. They are wearing these sleeveless tuxedo like outfits (maybe you would equate them with the female version of a Chippendale), and they basically set you up with your drinks and your table, and come around every five minutes to check on you. I love that, seriously. Thirdly, you have the jukebox, which is fantastic. I am also a sucker for jukeboxes. And lastly, it is 18 and older, so no kids can come in. That guarantees everyone there is legal, and it eliminates the vast majority of the high school crowd.

The problem is they get you on the alcohol. I ended up paying $17 for two hours of pool and a couple of Bud-Lites. When I go back (probably every day until I leave for at least an hour), I will not drink anything. Rather I will simply play pool, or at least have one drink so those girls keep coming around.

One thing I doubt I will be trying is the strip club next door. I am curious though, because the place is crammed with people from the looks of the parking lot. Back in Youngstown, where I have heard the quality is not very good, those places are not very busy. Here though, the quality must be spectacular, since there is really nowhere to park. On my salary I cannot afford it, so I probably will not make a stop. If I was comp’ed for it, I would, but try turning THAT in on the expense report.

It turns out Oklahoma State if a few hours to the north, so I doubt I will be making a trip up there to that campus. I am looking for some other things to do before I leave Saturday, so hopefully I will have more to write about tomorrow.

My best,

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Oklahoma City

Mang in Dallas!

The storms are rolling into Oklahoma City tonight and I have an awesome view from my hotel room. It really is quite a sight to see, now that I finally got used to the idea of being able to see storms without any kind of obstruction like back in Ohio. It was like this a week ago tonight when the violent storms came in. This time at least I am aware of how they will be like and can actually enjoy watching them. It is so flat out here that you can see miles around in any direction, and hence you will see, well, everything. It is really a beautiful sight, and probably the only thing I can compare it to would be seeing a storm come in off the ocean. It is a hell of a light show, just I’d prefer to not be driving in it.

So I went down to Dallas yesterday and had a pretty awesome time. I shot a lot of footage, but work ran late today and I did not have the opportunity to make Mang’s Monday version from Dallas. But rest assured, I will have the video footage up next week, along with the pictures. Actually, the pictures should be up soon.

Texas is quite the place. It was the first time I had ever been there, and hopefully it will not be the last. While a single day in Texas hardly can do the place a justice, I was happy I was able to see some of the major attractions in Dallas, however brief my time.

I first stopped at the Dallas World Aquarium, which came highly recommended from a number of sources. It was definitely worth the price of admission. There was a pretty cool penguin exhibit, along with a ton of other things: sharks, alligators, monkeys, a huge ass sloth (which ironically is not nearly as lazy as some people I know), and so forth. And by the way, the toucan is officially my favorite bird now. I mean, how is a toucan not awesome? The ones I saw seemed to have a lot of personality too. I took some footage of some of the toucans and hopefully it will fit in with the video.

I next made a stop at the 6th Floor Museum, which is the museum dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy. It was a great experience. The museum is on the 6th and 7th floor of the book depository from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK in Dealey Plaza. You could actually see where Oswald took his shots as well as the actual vantage point. The museum was interesting, and though I was not allowed to take pictures of anything, I did get some good shots of the building, the plaza, and the underpass. Lots of history of how the assassination occurred and its aftermath. I would recommend checking it out for anyone in the area.

I stopped at Reunion Tower, which is the major observation tower in Dallas. I wanted to go to the observation deck, but discovered that even after the building itself reopened the observation deck was still closed. I got some decent pictures of it, but am a little disappointed I couldn’t go to the top.

I also ended up at this BBQ place known as Sonny Bryan’s. I heard it was supposed to be pretty good, and it lived up to the hype. Got some pretty good pulled pork and beef brisket, though the portions were admittedly on the smaller side. I was actually surprised by the portions given everything in Texas is supposed to be bigger. Oh well, it still tasted great.

That was pretty much the day, since I only had about 5 hours to spend there. I spent five hours driving to and from Dallas-Fort Worth, which ate up a lot of the time that day. But it was cool, got to see the downtown area and a lot of the stuff within it. Hopefully someday I will go back.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Oklahoma City (and Dallas for a day)

Mang in OK! University of Oklahoma and OKC Memorial

I have seen a lot the last couple of days, and have roasted while doing it. You probably could cook an egg on a sidewalk down here it is so hot. It is good every place has the A/C cranked up to the max, makes things more bearable.

I am probably the only person here who drives with the windows down, as it is a rare occurrence you will find someone do that. And speaking of drivers, I think tailing people is customary in this part of the country. Anymore it doesn’t bother me because it happens every single time I get on the road here, but for that one rare occasion where the person is an inch off my bumper, I will swing around and then tail them laying on my horn for ten minutes, being the biggest JO that I possibly can be.

I made a few stops around town the last few days. I ended up at the Oklahoma City Memorial on Friday night because it was the time everyone said to go. The memorial itself is lit up in the evening, and there is a nice reflecting pool and these massive stone-lit gates on either end. There is also 168 chairs made of stone and glass that light up as well. Part of the original wall from the Murrah Building also makes up the perimeter. I have pictures on Facebook if you would like to see those.

On Saturday I made the trip down to Norman to see the home of our Big 12 foes, the Oklahoma Sooners. The campus was very impressive and it seems that there was a great deal of planning and coordination as these buildings were constructed. They have a beautiful law school there and the other colleges are also nicely designed. It is always amazing to see places like this, because in retrospect it might have been a great place to apply had I given any of the Big 12 schools some thought. That is not to say I am not 100% satisfied with my experiences with YSU and OSU, but it might have been really cool to go here.

Again, there are pictures on my Facebook page if you are curious to see what the campus is like.

I think I am going to spend the day in Dallas. One day can hardly do that city a justice, but I would like to try and spend a little time there since I am only a couple of hours away. I am not really sure where to go yet, though I have a few ideas.

The Mang

Oklahoma City: Myriad Botanical Gardens and Other Stuff

It is only day four in OKC and I have had a pretty interesting experience so far. There are toll roads out here that you do not know are toll roads until you take the exit. These tolls are unmanned and they go off the merit system. Unfortunately, they only take exact change (and no greenbacks), so I was perplexed as to what to do, particularly since I could not turn around. I expect I will be getting a ticket soon.

No matter where you are, someone is always tailing you. You could turn onto a road and see no one coming, and then all of a sudden there is some guy that came out of nowhere riding two feet off your bumper. Where he came from, I do not know, but when you have an Impala with the economy engine you cannot pick up enough speed to lose him. Traffic is actually heavy out here, much to my surprise, and I have seen traffic in this city worse than Columbus at times.

Enough about the driving though, where the hell did you go today Mang?

After work I ended up downtown today to check out this massive conservatory that is known as the “Myriad Botanical Gardens”. It is actually quite an amazing place, and I cannot remember the last time I had been inside of a conservatory. You can see a few pictures above, but there are also about 80 pictures on my Facebook page from my trip over there.

The building itself is like a huge, horizontal cylinder. There are fountains and gardens outside which are very nice, and it was a great day to walk around to see what the place had to offer. The skyline is right behind the conservatory, so it really makes for a great view.

Inside there are plants from six of the seven continents, with waterfalls and streams and a number of these gold and black butterflies which are pretty cool: they have great taste in colors after all. There are also a few salamanders that jump from plant to plant that were interesting.

The entire structure is filled to the brim with plants, flowers, and trees that stretch to the ceiling, and there are about three levels you can go through that have different plants from the different continents. The pictures speak for themselves.

Overall it was a really good experience to see this. It is not often you find a city with a conservatory of this size right downtown.

Tomorrow is Friday and I am undecided on what to do after work. I drove through Bricktown on my way downtown and it looked like a fun place to go. I will probably make a trip to the Oklahoma City memorial on Sunday and try to get to Dallas on Saturday sometime.

That is all for now.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City! More from The Mang

Oklahoma is an interesting place. The more I go out looking around at stuff, the more I enjoy it. There really is a lot to do out here, contrary to what I thought originally. I am planning on going to the major universities soon, check out the botanical gardens downtown, head over to the memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing that happened a few years back, and check out this cowboy museum that seems to be world renowned from what I hear around here. There is supposed to be a huge statue of Reagan out there as well which I am interested in going to see. Hopefully I will get down to Dallas this weekend as well.

There are massive cornfields out here too. I was driving back from my last store today and saw this vast cornfield that seemed to go on forever. It seemed to go for a few miles and had to be a few miles deep. Whatever the size, it was nothing like I have seen in Ohio.

The route the GPS took me on was off of the major highway system, and for miles around there was nothing but plains, plains, and more plains. There literally is nothing out here in some areas, which is actually pretty awesome (and scary as hell if you are low on gas). It is easy to rock out to Steppenwolf as you are driving around out here, even without the motorcycle. And speaking of Easy Rider, I kind of want to try and find the Historic Route 66, and though it technically does not exist anymore, it lives on renamed Oklahoma Route 66. I might try and drive some of it Sunday and see some of the sites that are on it. While I am pretty sure the route those guys took in Easy Rider was not through the Oklahoma part of Route 66, it would still be cool to actually drive part of it.

Switching gears, I have received a few questions about the steak out here. I will tell you the steak is very good. Though I wanted to try and stop at the Stockyards and go to Cattleman’s, which is well known for its steaks in Oklahoma City, I decided against it when I saw the line of 20 people standing outside trying to get in. Apparently it is always this way, and it happened to be a Monday night. I ended up at Santa Fe Cattle Company, which is a small chain that operates primarily in Oklahoma and Alabama, and has a handful of stores scattered throughout the South. I had a great steak there that had no excess fat and was cooked perfectly.

I decided to try this Italian chain tonight, simply out of curiosity to see what Oklahoma has to offer in the way of Italian food. The worst of my fears were realized, and it is a shame. The place I went to is called Primo’s, and the restaurant itself has a great atmosphere. In fact, the atmosphere and design of the bar is something I wish we had more of back home. Quieter, darker, you know, reminiscent of a bar you might see in one of the older mob movies. Good atmosphere, good music, bad food. Being Italian myself, I am highly critical of the quality of Italian food more so than the quality of a steak. The sauce was heavy on the basil, far too chunky for a parmesan, and the sauce was not tossed. I wanted to offer my expertise in the area, but the bartender wanted to talk about the Sooners, which is cool, because it is a nice change to hear about the Big 12 from the perspective from someone other than a Big 10 fan.

Believe it or not, he said he thinks Ohio State will beat USC. I think he is the first person I have heard say this so far this year.

I also walked around downtown tonight, since I could not make it out there during the day today. The downtown is great and it seems like there is a lot of stuff to do nearby. I hear Bricktown is a cool place and would be worth checking out. I understand there is some decent night life there.

Oh, and to Mr. Ramon Ramos, there IS a Garth Brooks Boulevard in case you were wondering. I know you have this love for country music, as you informed me prior to my leaving on this trip. I am still waiting for my damn mix tape of your finest country music. I wanted to hear some Charlie Daniels, but he was conspicuously absent because someone forgot to make me a CD. I hope you are happy with yourself.

I’ll have more tomorrow.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown and now of Oklahoma City

Mang Now from Oklahoma City!

The Mang is now in Oklahoma City for a full two weeks on business! Sorry about the disruption in the articles and the videos, I have been traveling and am trying to get situated in the awesome hotel I am getting comp'ed for! Enjoy Monday's Mang on this Wednesday morning. You will see why we had to delay the video Monday.

The Mang

Dream About Pennywise the Clown? What the Hell?

Last night I had this crazy dream about Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King’s It. For those of you who have seen this movie, it is creepy as hell. Hilarious at times, but certainly not something you want to be dreaming about. Evil clowns and all do not make for good nights. I presume I dreamed about this because I saw the world’s strongest clown down at the Columbiana County Fair yesterday, and it manifested itself in my dream as one of the creepiest clowns imaginable.

He did all sorts of crazy things in my dream. He hung a couple of people and laughed maniacally, taunted me (very much how he taunted people in the actual movie), and killed some more. What was interesting about this dream, aside from the fact there was a scary ass clown in it, was towards the end I had enough of his shit and magically pulled out a shotgun (it was a sawed off shotgun too, which made it pretty cool), stuck it to his head, and blew him away. Seriously, I am not embellishing when I say this, it absolutely happened that way.

This is comparable to the dream I had with Freddy Krueger in it a few weeks ago. Again, very similar to the dreams in the actual movie Nightmare on Elm Street: eerie, some weird guy running around with that damn hat on with a claw, etc. He didn’t kill anyone in that dream, or if going by how the story went, he didn’t kill me, the person having the dream. I just saw him ducking in and out of the shadows a lot and saying weird things.

Yes, I have weird dreams. Usually I dream when something weird is going on in my life. I dreamed a lot before going to Ohio State, before graduating at YSU, usually every August before going back to school, etc. Dreams go on from one to two weeks with me, and then I do not dream for a long time until the next round. I have no idea why I would dream about Pennywise the Clown of all things except having seen a clown at the fair the same day, but damn, it was creepy.

I guess I will leave with a quote from a movie: “And down here, YOU FLOAT TOO”. If some clown talked to me in a sewer drain, I’d probably run. Stupid kid.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

The Sleeping Giant Stirs: Obama's Great Miscalculation

The silent majority has awoken from its deep sleep. Today, we are seeing people from all walks of life and political affiliations stepping up to the plate to stand up and fight for what they believe in. As a result of this stir, you are seeing more and more town hall meetings erupt like what you see above in this video.

Barack Obama did not plan on putting this American unrest into the equation for his grandiose plans. He had counted on a United States that blindly supported his candidacy back in 2008, and with this blind support his believed he could sign legislation into law, however bad and ridiculous it might be, without getting a fight from the people who demanded change from the Republicans.

Allegations have been made that groups like ACORN and the SEIU are busing in people at the request of a higher authority. I cannot make the claim Barack Obama has instructed these organizations to use their muscle to intimidate people, but what is certain is these groups are showing up in large numbers at the instruction of SOMEONE. It could be the Congressmen that are afraid of being confronted about their lackluster policies, it could be someone in the local unions, but whatever the situation may be, these groups are organized for a purpose.

And that is what Astroturf REALLY is, Nancy.

If you push the American public, they are going to push back harder than anything a union or a community organizing group can throw at them, including bringing in the biggest guys they can find to hold off dissenters. Liberal Democrats in Congress are finding this out the hard way, and Blue Dog Democrats like Charlie Wilson are in hiding because they KNOW their constituents will not stand for this treatment.

The resolve and resiliency of the American people is unbelievable when they are insulted and taken for granted. Obama is finding this out.

If you do happen to go to a town hall meeting, I encourage you first to use your head and be aware of your surroundings. Don’t go in there looking for a fight, because chances are if you look hard enough you will find one. It is okay to be passionate, just don’t go crazy. Give the other side their chance to be heard! You will get your turn! If they DO try and shout you down, insist on being heard! It is your right after all. Bring a camera and tape what is going on, in the event something does happen or a group of people like the SEIU try and muscle people into silence. Our politicians need to be held accountable, as do these organized groups of people that are brought in to make a presence known.

Lastly, use common sense folks. If it looks like a fight is going to break out, avoid it if you can. This is supposed to be a civilized debate, not a street fight. When you pack a ton of people into an enclosed space and each of these people are operating at a highly emotional level, you can never rule out the possibility of a fight breaking out. Best advice, DO NOT GET IN THE MIDDLE.

Safety comes first with these things. That is all from the Mang on this issue tonight.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Full Moons and Crazy Behavior: Hype, or for Real?

It must be the full moon that explains a lot of the crazy things that have been happening lately. Typically when this happens, you will see that a lot of things that are a minor annoyance become extremely irritating. Also, you will see a lot of people acting particularly unusual and even crazy on some levels.

Lately, Glenn Beck has been acting a little crazy. I like Beck, because even though how he frames things is hilarious while at the same time deeply disturbing, what he says is not very far from the truth. I have been thinking lately that Beck is going to crack soon. Today, with the full moon, he just might have.

Glenn Beck having a conversation with Nancy Pelosi’s cardboard cutout head worn by some girl on his show while having wine as the lights are dimmed with 50s style lounge music playing in the background was more than I could bear to watch. He carried on the conversation and did all of the antics we know and love with the faces and impersonations. I mean, it was hilarious, but completely over the top.

As I was telling a friend of mine, this is like my old political science teacher I had at YSU. Maybe this is why I enjoy watching Glenn Beck, because the mannerisms, the impersonations, and the approach to talking about some of these subjects are so similar to this professor’s style. For those of you who went to YSU for political science, or for those of you that made a phone call from the Royal Oaks to get me out of going to class on my behalf, you probably know who I am talking about. Definitely one of my favorite professors though.

But the real question is what the hell does the full moon do to people? Maybe I am completely off base here, but it seems that whenever it comes out every person on the road seems to be driving extraordinarily bad. Either they are driving below the speed limit, choosing to not use turn signals, coming to a complete stop at their turn and THEN turning on their turn signals, or driving in the left lane without passing, all in succession. It is not uncommon to come across a few of these things, but on full moon days, they all seem to happen one after the other, especially when you need to get somewhere.

Maybe it is just a manifestation, but how does that explain Glenn Beck? Or Barbara Boxer who said these protestors dress well? Would Barbara Boxer on any normal day say this kind of thing? Knowing her, she actually might have. Would Nancy Pelosi be so bold as to say the right wing is incapable of creating a legitimate grass roots movement if this was not full moon time?

Well, the answer is yes, these people likely would have done these things regardless of a full moon. They’ve been doing this stuff for seven months now. Perhaps this all is a figment of my imagination.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Freedom of Speech, So Long as You Agree With Me: The New DNC

This video is appalling. This video is absolutely appalling. I wanted you to watch this to see what the Democratic Party is putting out in regards to people who oppose this healthcare plan.

This is not to say all Democrats believe this, but certainly the Democratic National Committee has wasted no time going after freedom of expression. I know many Democrats are unhappy with this plan, as are many Republicans and independents. It is a shame the national party is making this an issue of whether you are with us or against us. Instead of having a free debate, they are shouting down people with differing opinions.

If you want to talk about demonization and ostracizing people for the opinions they are entitled to about this healthcare policy that Congress is playing so fast and loose with, look no further than what the propaganda machine has spit out now.

If you oppose this healthcare plan, the Democratic National Committee and the White House are labeling you as part of an angry mob. Certainly, this is what the video shows. If you are against this healthcare plan, you are labeled a right wing extremist. I know of many Democrats that are leery of this healthcare plan, and none of them I would consider to be right wing extremists.
The untruths are staggering.

If you want to talk about an angry mob, let’s talk about the SEIU and the Teamsters that are told to pack these halls to give the appearance that all people support this plan. Oh yes, I have seen this before. I do not know where these people come from, but when they are called upon, they show up in a mass group wearing their union t-shirts. Maybe you have seen this before too. Seems a little more like intimidation to me than a free and open debate in my opinion.

And they call US the Mob. Sorry folks, we do not engage in intimidating tactics. We just want to be heard. It is because of the tactics being employed by the Democratic National Committee, Congress, and this President that we have to feel like the enemy every time we open our mouths.

And it is time for the President to wise up and take responsibility. The healthcare plan was his baby, the cap and trade plan was his baby, and this stimulus plan was his baby. I’ll be damned if the President keeps shoving off blame to the Republicans, because this new mess belongs to him. We don’t control Capitol Hill, YOU DO.

And if the American people are pissed, it is because you made them that way, not because they were paid by the vast rightwing conspiracy.

By the way, to the DNC, you had 8 years to complain over Bush, and you did frequently. The free advice is, if you can’t take it, don’t dish it.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

New "Elm Street" in 2010: Monday's Mang Postponed a Week

First of all, Monday’s Mang is on a temporary hiatus this week. I am traveling and do not have the equipment I need to make the video. I have the video capabilities, but I need the audio equipment because the microphone on my computer sucks. Unfortunately, it is at home. However, we will be in Oklahoma next week and we will have a show from out there. Now, onto today’s topic.

I came across something quite intriguing today. It is something I have mixed feelings on and cannot say I am entirely thrilled about. What I am talking about is the 2010 remake of the Wes Craven classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street”.

I am a “Nightmare” fan and have always have been. One of the most well known horror flicks of the 80s, the movie was legendary and almost iconic at the time for young and impressionable minds like mine and others. In school, it was all people could talk about around Halloween: Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and of course, Freddy Krueger, the unholy trio of silver screen killers. We have seen the remakes of Halloween and Friday the 13th, and now we will see a remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The Nightmare franchise has had its ups and downs over the years. Certainly the movie series has become cheesier over time and the acting has gone downhill. Some fans hate every sequel past the original because of this. However, I believe the original movie (and the second chapter, Freddy’s Revenge) were worthy as legitimate horror flicks. Anything past the second chapter I treat in a separate category: hilariously bad. I love the sequels, because Freddy was hilarious and mildly disturbing—not scary however. I think in one of the sequels Freddy popped his head through the door and yelled “Where’s the bourbon!?”, as he was dressed in a tux or something crazy like that. It was just funny as hell.

I found “A New Nightmare” to be disturbing and very well done, which is a sequel of sorts. This is another movie I treat separately from the original and the other sequels.

I enjoyed “Freddy vs. Jason” immensely. The movie definitely had its moments and at times was pretty funny. Definitely the movie was for the fans, and it had been talked about years and years before it came out. I remember being at the swimming pool when I was younger with a few friends talking about how cool it would be to see this movie made. I was not disappointed.

The problem is the remake of the original movie. As with all remakes, they never quite live up to the hype. I do not doubt that the movie is going to be interesting and I intend to go see it. However, I remain skeptical when these things come out. I maintain the old adage that if it is not broke, don’t fix it!

To be perfectly honest, I think I would be happier with a sequel that is extremely well done than a re-creation of the original. An extension of a series is something very different than trying to recreate an original. You risk ruining a good thing if the film is done badly.

We can always hope that the remake is done well, however, and I truly hope the producers do this movie the justice it deserves. It has potential to be an MANGTASTIC movie, but it also has the potential to be a huge flop. Unfortunately, we will not know until the day it comes out. But in the meantime, I look forward to an interesting movie, however bad or good it might be.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Columbus This Time Last Year: Lookback

I can’t believe it has already been a year since I moved down to Columbus. This time last year, I was looking at apartment buildings, getting ready to start at Ohio State, wrapping up my old job with my uncle, and having anxiety attacks daily because this was all very new to me and I was not sure how to handle it. Looking back, it probably was not as big of a deal as I made it out to be, though I can also understand why I felt the way I did.

The music that definitely sticks out in my mind from that time was the collection of 60s music I burned. There was 10 CDs, so they got a lot of playing time I as drove back and forth from home to do the apartment searching. Every time I hear Tommy James and the Shondells, Jefferson Airplane, or Sonny and Cher I think about when I first got down here.

It was a pretty exciting and scary experience at the same time being on my own the first time. The first week down here, it was hot as hell. And I mean it was beastly hot. As it happened, there was also that huge windstorm that blew out the power for three days. My roommate and I decided to walk down the UDF to get ice to protect the $200 in groceries we bought the day before, as the wind kept blowing and trees were falling down around us. That is not a joke either. UDF was all the way down on High Street, and you could actually hear the trees cracking at the base under the pressure of the wind on Starr Avenue. Trees were down in the middle of the road, and even after walking through all of that, we got back with a couple bags of half melted ice. I think we ended up listening to the Steelers on the radio that night with our neighbor Dave while eating chips and salsa and playing Apples to Apples. We also had a shit load of candles on the porch and we just hung around outside. Looking back, that was a pretty fun time.

I was fortunate to have a good roommate too. We go back a few years to undergrad back at Youngstown State so we both kind of knew what to expect. There were no major surprises, and I think we may have fought over something one time in the entire year we’ve been here. I cannot say that for other people I know, so I think we both lucked out. It only sucks because we are both fairly indecisive people, and making a decision on anything from food to other stuff can sometimes be a pain in the ass. It is fun though, we always bust on each other about something.

School of course was interesting. I do have a few regrets about my initial approach to it. Not so much about the program itself, but my overall attitude. I have my own theories on what happened, but I need to work on a few things for future reference. I did make some awesome friends down here though, and even though I may have slacked on the school work to do more things socially and unrelated to school work, I can’t say I would have changed anything in regards to my work load. Also, Ohio State football rocks, even though we are probably going to get our asses kicked against USC this year like we did about this time last year.

Though a lot of bad things happened in my family last year, my time in Columbus was awesome, and I expect another awesome year this year, whether I am in Columbus, Youngstown, Pittsburgh, or anywhere else.

Truly Yours,

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Friend

The Mangtastic Realization

A good friend and I went out tonight and hung out in the Short North in Columbus for awhile. It is August 1st, and every first Saturday of the month is what they call “The Gallery Hop”. It is a pretty cool. All of the stores are open late and you have a variety of entertainers on the sidewalks as well as businesses selling their stuff. The restaurants are packed and the bars are slammed with people. Tonight we were lucky to have good weather. Saw break dancers, singers, bands, and a host of other things.

Also, this is the night all of the beautiful people come out. I am not exactly where they all come from, but on these kinds of evenings thousands of ho-bags come out. You know, the ones that are of supreme hot quality wearing almost nothing except you will never, ever have a chance with. Now, whether or not you would even want to is another issue that I will get to in a minute. But they are accompanied by some hapless young individual, perhaps of the guido persuasion, the prep frat boy persuasion, the angst filled artist persuasion, or some combination of the above. Other times they are in groups of five to ten. If you have ever gone out, you probably have some idea of what I am talking about.

For a while, I have often asked myself, what do these particular guys have that I lack? And this has been a question I have wrestled with for the longest time. Until tonight.

It suddenly dawned on me: I don’t give a shit. I simply do not give a shit. I can never be those guys, and certainly those guys could NEVER measure up to me. The Mang is a multifaceted being and he operates on a number of different levels. And while I find it hilarious that three different people tonight came up to me and said they were looking for “some bitches” (since they were too damn drunk to figure out Sugar was half a block away on the left), I know I can never actually go down to that kind of level. Chances are those guys will get damn lucky, and I wish them the best.

What I look for in a girl is not what I saw tonight, and though with all of the short skirts, the long hair, and the stilettos, I know deep down I’d be after only one thing, because nothing else is there. And given the kinds of attitudes that come with these particular kinds of women, I’m not sure I could actually tolerate their mouths to actually spend a single evening. Well, check that, maybe I could. The Mang, while multifaceted, is also human. Certainly, being the eligible bachelor that he is (who also speaks in the third person), who is he to turn down a good time if a good time is to be had?

I guess the question that needs to be asked is: would you want to trade places with any of these people? A tough question, it does need to be asked. But my answer would have to be no. As with a lot of things, the idea of it is probably a lot better than the reality of it. While the lifestyle seems attractive, there are a lot of problems that come with it. If anything, I’d prefer profiting off the nightlife scene than living it every single weekend like a lot of these people do.

This is also known as “the grass always seems greener on the other side”. This article is not to knock the weekend scene, because I do enjoy going out. And who am I to knock the hustle of someone else? Merely, this is just a declaration that the Mang is unique and cannot be measured against others. That is a reality I can live with.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown