Promo Shots by Alex Thomas

Last week my friend and photographer Alex Thomas was nice enough to take some photos of me. I pretty much needed some decent pictures of me to help promote myself, send to bookers, and incorporate into the EPK that I desperately need to make. I figured I'd share some of the more choice shots.

Jacob Abello at the Opolis this Saturday

My good friend Jacob Abello will performing for the first time this Saturday night at the Opolis. He'll be playing tracks from his new album Nothing But Gold. I really wish I wasn't out of town so I could go to this. Jacob has been working on his record for quite a long time, and I've anxiously awaited his live debut for most of it. But everyone reading this definitely shouldn't be like me, instead they should attend the show. The lineup is completely solid and will be well worth the $7.

You can listen to a few tracks from Nothing But Gold on Jacob's Myspace page or check out the KGOU review of the album HERE.

Tour! (kinda, sorta, not really)

I'll be doing some traveling in the next few weeks and performing in some places I've never been before. I'm super excited about it.

My May shows:
5/12 - Norman OK @ Othello's
5/13 - Little Rock AR @ Loony Bin Comedy Club
5/18 - Birmingham, AL @ The Barking Kudo
5/20 - Atlanta GA @ The Laughing Skull Lounge
5/25 - Birmingham AL @ The Barking Kudo
5/26 - Norman OK @ Othello's
5/27 - Oklahoma City OK @ Loony Bin Comedy Club
5/29 - Norman OK @ Opolis

I hope to have a larger scale US tour later in the summer.

ETS Episode Eleven - Derek Smith

796 Entertainment's Derek Smith joins us.

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Movie Review: 'Star Trek'

Spoiler Free!

I was extremely skeptical going in to the new Star Trek film. I loved a lot of the original films and simply didn't think a) a reboot was necessary and b) that JJ Abrams was the right person at the helm. The old films still stand up, and I felt that any new incarnation would only tarnish the series (I'm looking at you Star Wars). And I've never liked anything J.J. Abrams has done (in fact, I despise most of it). Lost and Alias both seemed silly to me, MI3 was the absolute worst of the Mission Impossible series (and had the lamest villain death I can think of from any film), and Cloverfield was one of the most shallow, mindless, and flat-out boring films I saw last year. My reluctance continued after seeing the new film's trailers, which made the film out to be a mindless CGI-fest set to betray everything I love about the franchise.

But I am happy to report that absolutely loved Star Trek. Right from the very beginning it took me back to when I was little and would endlessly rewatch my dad's VHS box set of the first six films. I never onced questioned Pine and Quinto as Kirk and Spock, and the time travel storyline was the perfect way to restart the franchise without abandoning everything the previous films and television had setup. I had assumed that having Leonard Nimoy in the film was simply a desperate attempt to please fanboys, but (while it still may have been that), he was worked in perfectly.

That's not to say the entire film was perfect. The action sequences were lame, a bit too over-the-top, over-long, and far too reliant on computer effects (but that's just as much a complaint about modern action films as it is about this specific movie). The cast also didn't entirely work, I never fully bought Saldana and Urban as Uhura and Bones, and was constantly comparing them to the originals. Eric Bana was also a bit underused and under developed, and never once felt like a real threat. But these minor quibbles did little to prevent my enjoyment of the overall picture.

I went into the theater tonight expecting to hate the film, but came out completely loving it. I would be shocked if any other big summer blockbuster bests it.

8/10