Entertainment – Page 4 – Collin Kottke: All-Around Swell Guy

I’m Going to Miss Jay Leno

I like quirk, it makes everything a little more interesting. Putting a little quirk in comedy is something I really like. It takes real talent to make something quirky, yet it keeps its relevance and is still funny. Jay Leno has never been quirky, in a comedy sense, but I’m still watching him over the next week plus.

Leno’s last Tonight Show will be next Thursday, February 6, giving way to current Late Night host Jimmy Fallon.

When I was younger, I loved Jay and I don’t really know why. He was probably just the guy that my parents would watch, so I also watched him. As I got older, I realized that Leno didn’t exactly take too many comedic chances and my attention shifted to David Letterman instead in the coveted after-the-evening-news time slot.

I like other comedians better than Jay, it’s just the simple truth. I was excited when Conan O’Brien took over the Tonight Show and I watched every single episode of his tenure and it’ll be the same for Jimmy Fallon, but I like Jay, too. Jay is talented, funny and was portrayed as the villain in something that wasn’t totally in his control. I guess this is my way of saying that I’m going to miss Jay Leno.

Leno, other than the Conan stint, has been the only host of the Tonight Show in my lifetime, so it’s going to be weird to be flipping around after the news and not having Jay somewhere on the TV. He said in his interview with 60 Minutes that he won’t be looking to do another late night show.

It’s a big change in the landscape of TV, again. Something that has barely changed in my whole life is changing permanently now. I guess it’s just a sign of me getting old.

I’ll always remember a lot about my endless hours of Leno watching. Jay being the first late night host to interview a sitting US President is something I’ll always remember, it might help that it was my birthday and that Garth Brooks was the musical guest, but nonetheless.

The thing I’ll remember most is Mondays with Jay. Monday meant Headlines. Headlines meant trying to convince my parents to let me stay up a measly half-hour later so I could see my favorite bit on late night television.

I’m going to enjoy the hell out of Jimmy Fallon moving into the Tonight Show, allowing Seth Meyers to move into Late Night, but part of me will miss the hell out of Jay and another part of my childhood slipping away.

My childhood just giving way to more quirk.

Kim Kardashian Pays Her Tailor Five Thousand Dollars A Day

Kim Kardashian… Wait! Come back! I now you hate reading and seeing the Kardashians on every single media medium, but this is worth it. Trust me.

Kimmy K has a very large back end, it’s so large that she doesn’t exactly fit into regular pants well. She is very extremely shaped and the only reason we know about her is that damn sex tape with that one rapper I never heard of. Ugh, technology.

Kardashian’s butt is so big that she has a personal tailor. Which makes sense, right? She’s a big star with a lot of money; it makes sense that she would have a guy that can help her out with her clothing problems.

Here’s the deal, the guy is always on call. Oh and that’s not the most extreme part, the tailor, Cornelius Clay, gets paid $4,964 a day, A DAY, from Kim Kardashian to help fit her jeans. This dude gets virtually $5,000 a day to make sure that Kim Kardashian’s ass looks nice. What a world.

If you do the math for Mr. Clay, he makes just a little over $1.8 million dollars per year for this gig. That’s kind of a kick in the not-so-tailored shorts of the typical working man.

One day, when I have millions and millions of dollars, I too am going to pay someone $5,000 a day. I don’t know what that person is going to do, but I’m sure I can figure out something that is on-par to Kardashian.

Maybe I’ll take up golfing and I’ll pay my caddy $5,000 a day. I’ll make sure I have some really slick pants, too.

George Strait and Eric Church Team Up Onstage

There’s not a whole lot that I love more than country music. Yes, the quality of music and what is considered ‘country’ these days is pretty concerning, but when it’s done right, it’s awesome. Nobody does it better than George Strait and Eric Church.

Eric Church opened up for George Strait on a recent tour date in Kansas City, which I joked about going to and now I really wish I would have. Church did an acoustic set, which is very rare for a stadium/arena show, as the opening act and then sometime during the concert the following happened.

King George and The Chief teamed up!

This is a country music nerd’s dream. One of the best of all-time and one of the best of today (and the future) teaming up on one of my favorite tunes, ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’.

Church’s new album, The Outsiders, is scheduled for release on February 11, which thus far has two awesome singles with ‘The Outsiders’ and ‘Give Me Back My Hometown’, but my gushing over the preacher of the Church Choir can wait for another post.

Now rewatch King George and The Chief. You know you want to.

New Details Emerge on Garth Brooks Comeback Tour

On Monday, we learned a little bit more about the up and coming Garth Brooks World Tour. In an email to his ‘Circle of Friends’ newsletter, it was announced that Garth will be heading to Ireland and Crooke Park on July 25 and 26 as the big symbolic kickoff event. The event in Dublin will be called ‘The Garth Brooks Comeback Special Event’.

The most interesting note that I found in the email/press release is the following quote from Garth, “Before we go back on tour in the Fall of 2014, I want to challenge myself, the band, and crew. In ’97, we were lucky enough to play Croke Park, the stadium was under construction. 130,000+ of some of the greatest fans in the world. I was quoted then as saying ‘When this stadium is finished, I would love to come back and try to fill it again…this time to the brink.’…and we’re back to do just that.”

The part that is most interesting to State-bound Garth fans is that the comeback tour will begin in the fall of 2014. I do not believe we have had a hint at when the tour was to begin, but now we know it’s going to be ‘Fall 2014’ and sometime after July 25 and 26.

It’s fun for Garth to kick it off back in Ireland, where he taped one of his awesome concert specials. On the marketing front, an insanely smart move by the marketing major from Oklahoma State University for a couple reasons; first, Ireland and the UK loves Garth Brooks, he’ll sell out that show in minutes with both UKers and fans from around the world. Second, starting his tour over in Ireland makes headlines and makes him even more wanted by US audiences. Seeing Garth perform in Ireland will only make his fans want to see him more in the US knowing it is jut mere weeks away. I wouldn’t be surprised if tickets for the rest of his tour go on sale on about July 27, with Dublin and Crooke Park majesty still burned in fans’ minds.

A Radio Geek’s Dream Come True: Garage Logic Style

I will start by admitting that I am a total geek, an unashamed nerd. It’s no secret that I love the radio and that I love sports, combining those two results in my fondness for 1500 ESPN – Twin Cities. What may not be known as well is my absolute fandom for Garage Logic on 1500.

GL isn’t an easy concept to explain. Host Joe Soucheray has created a town, the town of Garage Logic, and has been appointed mayor of said town. If it seems crazy, it is a little bit, but that’s one of the many reasons I love it so much.

Soucheray is the ‘speed bumb’ right in the middle of the day on 1500, speaking minimally on sports topics. I’d say that would be left for SportsTalk with Soucheray and Patrick Reusse, but they don’t really talk about sports during that hour either.

On Soucheray’s Garage Logic, there is a recurring segment called a ‘ray of hope’. Soucheray, his loving producers Rookie and Reuvers, newsman John Heidt and the listeners search for something positive in this sometimes dreary world.

I offered a ray of hope of my own on Friday afternoon via email. I illustrated that I had purchased a GL can koozie from the 1500 ESPN Prize Vault and that I had received an email from the station saying it was on my way to my doorstep via USPS, the United States Postal Service. I brought up the USPS as the ray of hope, knowing Sooch is such a lover and friend of the Post Office.

To my surprise it led the show on Friday afternoon and my email was the topic of conversation for the first whole segment. Actually, it was Joe’s amazement that the can koozie cost me so many points, but still for a radio geek it was quite a thrill to hear my favorite radio host say my name multiple times over the airwaves.

In Soucheray’s discovery of the cost being too high for a koozie, he offered that I send back my can koozie and he’ll sign it for me. Let me tell you, the can koozie will be on its way back to the Cities.

Having your name on the airwaves isn’t a huge deal, I’ve said my own name over the airwaves hundreds of times, but there’s something cool about your favorite anything acknowledging that you exist in any capacity whatsoever.

My love of sports has brought me a lot of things, but little did I expect it would bring me a radio show that has nothing to do with sports and that I’d fall in love with it.

I believe you should always thank the people who make your day better, so a big ‘thank you’ for making every day better, Rookie, Reuvers, Heidt, Kenny and, of course, Joe.

You can check out Friday’s episode via iTunes here.

Good luck.