Hello loyal Laptop Sessions viewers.  This is an example of how busy things have been over these past couple of months: back when Wrestlemania 25 (or XXV) aired in March, my cousin Sarah wrote to me with a recap of the night’s events.  I thought her recap was great- to the point, but detailed enough and with some great commentary.  I asked her if I could post it on the blog, and she said I could.  But, I never got around to it, and here it is, almost June, and I’m finally posting it for the first time.  I hope you’ll still find it relevant and can use it as a reference guide in the future.  She did it Twitter-style, as she typed it out on her Blackberry Curve.  I think it really sums up the night well- thanks Sarah!  Now, on to the review of Wrestlemania 25!

-wrestlemania 25. Promises to be a 4 hour event and at $55 it damn best be! Bring on the fanfare

-match 1 Money in the bank ladder match: mvp, kane, christian, mark henry, shelton benjamin, cm punk, finlay, kofi kingston – winner cm punk. Sorry christian, guess you should go back to tna

-Kid rock performance wayyyyyy too long medley of bawitdaba, rocknroll jesus, cowboy, all summer long, and so hott intros diva 25 battle royal – no divas announced – don’t know who is who – santino wins in drag, does 5 min eye gouge-worthy dance in drag

-jericho vs ricky steamboat, piper, snuka, flair in corner. Each HoF’er gets to do signature move then gets pinned. Steamboat actually kicked some ass. Jericho wins. Mickey rourke called out; boxes
jericho. Doesn’t pull punch, gets jericho right in back of head. Jericho down. Hysterical.

-hardy bro match, matt wins cheap, no holds match. Sadly boring. Time: 8:41pm no hogan yet?? No classic moments montage. Still time left

-Mysterio vs jbl HAHAHAHA 21 seconds long, mysterio wins. Mysterio dressed as joker. Wow, no words for it.

-shawn michaels vs taker (16-0 record) michaels, in white, decends on a pulpit from above. Undertaker, dressed in black, ascends from hell. Felt like 1 1/2 hour; taker wins. Best match of the night, worth the money. So far not one ‘slobberknocker’ from jim ross.

-Three way heavy weight champ match, cena – edge – big show Shitload of cenas line aisle in eminem clone style, do ‘you can’t see me’ salute as cena runs down. Cena benches 735 lbs – lifts show & edge same time- cena wins. Vicky guerro gets speared again by edge

-Hall of fame old men parade + stone cold + the fink! Short nod to new inductees, Stone cold leaves line up, tears out on atv down aisle, has 10 min indulgent beerfest

-wwe title match, triple h vs orton. Preface shane and vince for 30 seconds on screen, they don’t even speak. First and only sight of mcmahon all night. Triple h beats ortin. One word: Anticlimatic. 1
“slobberknocker” in 4 hrs by jim ross.

-4 full hours. No montage of past great matches, no old timers/tributes save new inductees, no hogan?!? At 25th wrestlemania?? No starstudded pre-show. Complete lack of fanfare – did mcmahon even plan this? Yet again, not worth the money.

By Chris Moore:

On the way to work this morning, I was mentally running through all the things I have to do today, seeing as how it is my first day back to school after the weekend.  Mondays are always tough like that…

And that’s when I realized it’s not Monday.

No, indeed, it is not Monday.  Which is complicated further by the fact that I spent ten minutes this morning donating to the Woody Guthrie Foundation so that I could, with a clear conscience, download and learn a song that I want to play for this week’s Chris Moore Monday.

Instead, as I was listening to the song on my way to work, I realized that I completely missed the boat.  But, rest assured, there will be a Chris Moore cover song this week… 

It just won’t be posted on a Monday. 

Things to look forward to later today:

- My post, edited with my administrative priviledges to look as though it had been posted yesterday.

- A brand-new song, recently released as a download-only track.

- At least one bad pun on the fact that I DIDN’T use my “memory” on “Memorial” Day. 

Until then…

By Jeff:

Welcome to the most unusual Thumpin’ Thursday ever!  Unusual because for the first time in what seems like a long time, i’m doing my post while the sun is still out.

I’ll skip a few lines so you can grasp the significance of this occasion.

That’s right – tonight is the prom i’ve been helping plan for quite some time.  I have to leave in about an hour to be the first person to show up and pay the people.  But it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I can only hope that everyone from our school attends, has fun, eats a lot of good food, and has a memorable evening.

Now, with that said, onto TODAY‘s session (had to do that – it’s monumental to even me).

Today I had a few songs in mind, and had a song ready to go when I got home, but on my short drive today’s song came on my IPod, and I said “Got to remember to look at the name”.  It was this song (oh don’t get me wrong – I knew the band immediately).  I pulled into my garage just as the song came to an end, looked at it, and said this would make a great session choice.

And not just because the song is just over 2 minutes long.

Okay, maybe that contributed a bit, but the other song would’ve only lasted another minute.

The song is “Pulling Teeth” by Green Day from their album “Dookie”.  I think this album is one of the standout albums of the alternative era.  Even if some of the songs were on the simple side, it is a defining album.  This song is different than most of the songs, in that the beat is consistent and not really ultra fast or pressing.  I also find it funny that the lyrics are about a guy being on the receiving end of domestic abuse.

I wanted to say to all of my fans – everything is WONDERFUL.

But i’m really excited to get this evening over.  This has dominated my job for the past month especially, and tomorrow morning I will be especially happy.  This will make doing graduation a cakewalk.

Until then, enjoy today’s session, and i’ll be back next week for another one!

By Jim Fusco:

Welcome, welcome to yet another Jim Fusco Tuesday here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog.  Actually, tonight, you get two for the price of one: I have Chris Moore with me to record this session!  And boy, did it come out great.  If your connection can handle it, click the “HQ” button and listen to the better audio feed of this one.  It’s in full stereo (I LOVE my microphone) and the levels are perfect!

And tonight debuts my brand new 12-string electric guitar!  And what a way to bring it in.  I knew I had to do a Byrds song.  No, it’s not a Rickenbacher.  Who can justify spending literally 8 times more for the same essential thing.  My version is from Dean and I love it.  It looks great and plays even better.  The sound is there, too- just like all my favorite 12-string songs.  Look for more in the future.  I can’t wait to bust out my new lap steel guitar, as well.  In a couple weeks, I’ll be getting an HD cam, so all my Laptop Sessions will be in high definition.  How cool is that?  At that point, I’ll be able to start my new mini-series entitled “Jim’s Guitars”- stay tuned.

Gene Clark wrote tonight’s song and it was off of the Byrds first album, “Mr. Tambourine Man.”  Now, this isn’t the greatest album, but it really could have been.  That is, if half the album weren’t Bob Dylan covers and other cover songs.  Not to knock cover songs, but the songwriting of Gene Clark (and in the future, the rest of the band) was so far ahead of its time and his songs are simply timeless.  This song takes me back to when I was at Wesleyan for 5 weeks in the summer of 2000.  I was at a program called “CCY”, the Center for Creative Youth.  Good fit, eh?

Anyway, those five weeks seemed like a whole lifetime at the time- everything that happened in one day seemed like a year.  So, even not seeing someone for two days made it seem like you were living “here without you”.  Needless to say, this song was all I listened to when I got back that summer.

I have to keep tonight’s post short because of my marathon video editing job last night.  I need to catch up and this is my only opportunity.  So, without further ado, I hope you enjoy the great effort put out by Chris and myself tonight on the Byrds’ classic song, “Here Without You”.  You won’t be here without us for too long, as Jeff will be back on Thursday for another great cover song music video.  Until next week!!