DadCentric

Friday Folds - Good Morning, Son

I didn't post this week and when that happens Jason gets all mad and starts calling people I care about and hanging up on them at 3 in the morning. 

My mom: "I'm sorry young man, but I don't think anyone has Prince Albert in a can these days.  Also, it sounds like you may have asthma."

To spare those I love I have decided to put up this video of Ben Folds singing "Still Fighting It" because dammit, it's awesome.  Just minutes ago I was hard at work and also Twittering when this song came on the playlist -- wheels turned and I looked up the video only to find this version featuring Folds and Folds, Jr., directed by Mrs. Folds, and I got all Daddy Bloggery and realized that some things must be shared and that this video was one of them.  It also made me want to stop working, but not Twittering, and pick up my sons and run with them through the grassy/sandy area of their choice.

Be forewarned, there is an ad at the beginning for the official coffee of support groups and break rooms everywhere, but don't let that ruin the experience for you.

Stop, look and listen.  Then wash the sand out of your keyboards.

Good morning, everyone.

Freedom of Choice

Is what you got.

"Dad," he said. "Devo is playing the Olympics."

This is good and bad.

Having reared my children on Devo, I somewhat consider it a good thing.

But knowing how they have tried to justify the corporate shilling over the years, I'm about as surprised as hearing about The Who playing the Super Bowl.

Not that that isn't part of devolution. 

Actually, it might be seen as nothing short of brilliant.

I'm on the fence about it as you can see, and only time will time.

I saw them perform "Gates Of Steel" years ago in Anaheim during a surreal Huck Jam.

It was awesome. 

Although not as surreal as discovering  this years ago.

Wanna Win Tickets to Yo Gabba Gabba Live? Of Course You Do.

 We here at DadCentric make no secret of our unabashed love for Yo Gabba Gabba. A few months ago, I attended the Yo Gabba Gabba Live! show in L.A. and had a grand old time. (Four links in two sentences, folks. That's holding something in high regard.)

Season 3 of the bestest, most awesomest kiddie show on TV is coming up fast, and it promises to be the best yet. (It may be, I daresay, the BESTESTEST.) Among the celebrities slated to appear: Anthony Bourdain, Mos Def and Sarah Silverman, along with recurring guests Jack McBrayer and Paul Scheer. Musical guests will include Band of Horses (!), Weezer (!!), The Flaming Lips (!!!), and a reunited Devo (@#*&@#$!!!!!!!!!!). And the Yo Gabba Gabba Live! Tour is making the Midwestern/Canadian rounds this March, with stops in Minneapolis (3/13), Milwaukee (3/14), Toronto (3/16 and 3/17), Fort Wayne (3/19), Cincinnati (3/20), and St. Louis (3/21). Joining DJ Lance and his eclectic crew of giant toys will be the once diabolical but now oddly cuddly Biz Markie and costumed superband The Aquabats. And I'm sure there will be a few guests popping in to say hi.

Now, when I attended the show, I felt sorta bad for the people who weren't living on the west and east coasts of the United States who wouldn't get to see it. I also felt bad for the Firefly nerds out there who are jealous of me because I sat right behind the lovely and talented Gina "Zoe Washburne" Torres (how ya like me now, Browncoats?). I also felt bad for Canada, but not as much, since you Canadians have yet to atone for Celine Dion. But now we have the chance to assuage our collective hipster parent grief. One lucky winner will receive 4 tickets to a Yo Gabba Gabba Live! Show at one of the aforementioned locations (Minneapolis, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, or Toronto). That winner will also receive a copy of the Yo Gabba Gabba! Music Is Awesome! CD and AND! a copy of the Yo Gabba Gabba! Birthday DVD. I bolded that because wow, what a prize package.

But we're not just gonna give the tickets to you. Oh no. You gotta earn 'em. In the Comments section, riddle us this: what's the name of YOUR Dancey-Dance, and why? 

UPDATE! WE'RE EXTENDING THE CONTEST THROUGH FRIDAY! 

Lovely, Love My Family

There's comfort in clichés. They help you wrap your head around things that would otherwise leave you speechless in wonder, or in despair. We've been dealing with a death in the family; over at my little corner of the Internet I vented accordingly. Hug your kids, they say. And they're right.

The Race for The Worst Dad of 2010 Has A New Frontrunner - Billy Ray Cyrus

I see your Stephen Baldwin, Whit, and I raise you one former mulleted pop-country one-hit wonder turned juvenile flesh peddler.

 

You probably know more than you want to know about Billy Ray's daughter Miley, she of the Teen Choice Awards Pole Dance  and the Vanity Fair photo shoot that would have made John Phillips green with envy. But did you know that Miley has a younger sister? She does! And her name is Noah. And being a nine-year-old girl named after a Biblical zookeeper will, I think, be way down on the list of issues she'll eventually be discussing with her psychotherapist. At the top of that list: she's launching what critics are calling a line of lingerie for pre-tweens. Mull that over for a second while I vomit into this trash can.

So what kind of dad encourages - sorry, actively participates in a photo shoot of his half-naked daughter and preps his younger daughter to be Travis Bickle's next object of affection? A God-fearin' one, apparently. In this interview, Billy Ray reflects on what it takes to raise kids in decadent Hollywood:

“I think as long as she looks for the light, she will find the light—she will be the light,” he says. “This town has a keen way of surrounding you with darkness, but you can be a light. You only have to try. If you reach out and try, God will help you.”

UPDATE: As this post went to press, we received word that Billy Ray Cyrus was struck and burned to ashes by a seemingly random bolt of lightning. 

Who Farted: The Video

So like, last summer, I posted about my rockin' little ode to flatulence. So here it is months later, and at long last, I've a video to share. Check out that intense moshpit. Apologies for the sound quality.

I Wish It Was Christmas Today - The PetCobra Trio

No children were harmed in the making of this video, although at 2:29 I come pretty close to clocking Zoë with my bass. Merry Christmas from all of us at DadCentric!

 

I Wish It Was Christmas Today (Fallon, Sanz, and Some Other Guys)

 

?uestlove is alright, but he's no Tracy Morgan.

How To Survive The Week Before Christmas

Disclosure time! As part of my job as a VTech Voice, I was asked to write a post about how to keep dads involved with holiday preparations. Now, many dads are willing and eager participants in Family Holiday Fun, but a few of us are not. To avoid having the ghost of your dead clock-watching slackass business partner show up with three of his dead eggnog-swilling buddies, here are some suggestions on how to make the most of these last few days leading up to Christmas, from DadCentric Christmases Past.

What to Buy Dad For Christmas: DadCentric's 2009 Gift Guide For Dads Who Are Awesome

This year, as we've done in the past, we're offering up some suggestions on what to get for that special dad in your life. Some of the things listed below were sent to us for review, some we purchased ourselves (don't worry, People Who Worry About Disclosure, we'll sort it all out at the end of this post), and some are just things that we dream about (those will be painfully obvious, like last year's Scarlett Johansson Robot Maid). And now, with the wonder of cell phone Internet browsing, you can peruse our suggestions while nursing a tryptophan and Pinot Noir hangover and waiting in the line to get into your local Wal-Mart, a line that's approximately the length of the Great Wall of China. Happy Black Friday!