Weather Update!

According to some calendars, it might be summer again, but we're not completely convinced.

As a result, we're sending Brendan "Bunny Goes to Hollywood" Goes to Hollywood out into a field with his advanced meteorology equipment. Once there, we hope that he'll have good enough reception to divine the future and answer the most important question anyone ever has about an outdoor weekend gig: whether the tiny clouds are dripping tiny thunderbolts. If he can find his way back, and then if he remembers to tell us, we will probably get in the newly duct-taped Bratmobile and rock some golf courses, beer gardens, parking lots, and television stations.

 

But we're still not sure.

Commerce and Fashion Updates

If you're shuffling along with us at a club and suddenly realize that you forgot to purchase a gift for that special someone's birthday, anniversary, graduation, wedding, 4th of July, or other important day... we've got the goods. We keep them right there on stage with us at all times, and if you have cash, it's even easier!

Our full color, high quality "BP Rocket" baseball jersey isn't just for astronauts and time-travelling teenagers anymore. A sexy, flattering style for all, the rocket shirt is affordable, at $15, and helps prevent nudity.

The Brat Pack underwear collection might be familiar to you, thanks to our supermodel lead singers, who have no shame. So stop having shame and get some today! (Prices vary by style.)

The Brat Pack Tank Top, a la Gwen Stefani and Brendan Goes to Hollywood, is a classic. A small quantity remains in our inventory, which could make these a collector's item (if we forget to reorder).

Finally, the Members Buttons went so fast, we had to do an emergency restocking. At $2 per, you can easily collect them all!

Weather Update

Last Friday was sort of okay, not super cold. We had a good time at Fat City where a bus dropped off hundreds of lawyers.

Saturday's high of 50 degrees made for such a pleasant day. High winds made everything look funny. The temperature was still bearable at night, when we witnessed a spectacular turnout at T&T Tavern.

On Sunday it started to drop, but we still think 25 is nice. No snow though.

Monday saw a high of 14 and Tuesday of 13. An eyewitness reported five seconds of glistening snow flurries on Monday and stuck her tongue out to see if they were real or manufactured, like contrail fallout.

Whatever happens next, we really don't know. We're a party band, not meteorologists, and even though we have predicted the weather (and the future) with much higher accuracy than the pros, we don't want to get anyone's hopes up.

Guess you'll just have to come to Sliderz in Decatur this Saturday to find out what kind of weather we ended up having throughout the week.

Our Top Five Resolutions for 2013 and Progress So Far

1. Get More Exercise.

Here's a classic, made to be broken. Exercise can cause serious injuries, to the exerciser and innocent bystanders! These lead to emergency medical care, physical therapy, attorney's fees, and increased insurance premiums. Add that to pricey gym memberships and workout gear, and we can barely keep the second most popular resolution - to get out of debt. We might trick ourselves with reverse psychology, resolving to get more exercise (see LL's obsessive blog) and then standing up to ourselves by getting less...

2. Get out of Debt.

Depends on how we do with breaking #1.

3. Take Fewer Pictures of Each Other Sleeping/Waking Up/Eating/Taking Pictures.

Creepers everywhere. We know that we should resolve to give each other privacy, to be more respectful, to keep those camera phones to ourselves, but we just forget. Sometimes we even accidentally post these intimate glimpses. After all, nothing says 'party band' like stuffing your face with Crispy Cremes or passing out in the backseat of the van surrounded by equipment.




4. Spend More Time with Friends and Family.

We can live with this promise
as long as it means we get to
take more pictures of each other
sleeping, waking up, eating,
and taking pictures.












5. Learn Something New.

Brendan Goes to Hollywood and Lynndi Lauper thought this meant TIL, collecting fascinating factoids every day, such as the fine points of virology or the history of soap. Other than that, it's so hard to know what you've learned, if anything, until after, and then it's hard to remember and scary to bring up in public. But on this resolution, our fortunes turned...
Just when we were ready to break it, we realized that learning other new stuff counts, like songs, guitar solos, dance steps, the routes to new locations, sources of flair, and innovative jello shot flavors!

Here's Our Office Party. Show Us Yours?

This year's holiday office party was inspired by a tale of tall wizards and helpful elves,

 

 

guys with big hairy feet who follow dwarves around,

 

 

trees that walk and sing,

 

 

and terrifying, pale, mountain dwelling giants...

 

 

We took ourselves to see The Hobbit! We held hands, we ate popcorn, we laughed, we cried, we struggled to understand all the words. Being our own date has never been so emotionally liberating. Here's an illegal photo someone we don't know texted us during the previews, to prove we were really there.

 

After the film, we were forced to eat even more, seated at this uniquely rocket-shaped table.

 

Will the festivities never end?  Thanks to the wine and delicious food, we took ourselves home and took advantage of ourselves, exchanging gifts, photos of gifts, jokes about gifts, deceptive gifts, and gifts of strong mutual interest.

 

 

And then someone xeroxed their butt.

 

(P.S. Thanks to our good friend Holly Bowman for photos 2, 3, and 4!)

Contest Winner Is Superhero!

Remember Pete? He won a Brat Pack contest last year, but the prize was so extreme that we vowed never to speak of it again.

This week, Pete reigns supreme as the winner of our "Tell the Brat Pack How to Party" contest, with his innovative suggestion that we crash Office Depot. We just might! We will reveal the top secret details of our annual holiday celebration in due time. But for now, we celebrate Pete's victory by showering him with prizes: in addition to a complete collection of decorative BP pins, he'll be invited to sit in with the band, doing pretty much whatever he pleases!

CONTEST OF THE WEEK: Please Tell the Brat Pack How to Party

Like every other actual business with revenue, expenditures, attorneys, and hundreds of costumes and props, the Brat Pack must now plan its OWN annual holiday party.

 

Sure we play lots of holiday parties for other workplaces, but that's easy. The naughty things they do in the janitor's closet don't really bother us at all. And when the boss gets up on stage to sit in with the band, that's no sweat either.

 

But what can people whose business it is to party all year long do for themselves when the season comes along?

 

 

CONTEST OF THE WEEK: Describe in 5,000,000 words or less, with photos, video, and emoji optional, the perfect holiday party. Real or imagined. Litigation pending or settled. For The Brat Pack or yourself or anyone. 

 

The most excellent contest entry wins you an exciting holiday-themed gift set, packed with love by our own elves, angels, wise men, Frosty, and various Santas.

Contest of the Week: WTF?

Oh help.
We can no longer make sense of things.
Just when we thought Brendan Goes to Hollywood was really Justin Bieber in an authentic 90s Gwen Stefani costume, which seemed obvious...

He turned into Slash Gwen Stefani.

Very confusing because we thought this was Slash.

If you can explain these ever changing 'almost totally 80s' identities, this week's fine prize is a twenty second hug, the correct amount of embrace-time for an enhanced sense of well-being and trust in our fellow man. Or a trophy, as you prefer.

News, Sports, and Weather Update

News
It seems like we're constantly hearing something new about news or science or whatever. Only yesterday we learned that dancing releases oxytocin, although there were no specific details about stomping down the street with a gang of ghouls. Today the great news is that zombies, like everyone else, can compare their actual diet with ideal and berate themselves. With luck, zombies can become depressed or anorexic and stop bothering everyone.

Sports
Who doesn't love soccer? Soccer might be the ultimate 'almost totally 80s' sport, and there's no reason to expect that banshees wouldn't show up there too, although maybe following somewhat different rules.

 

 

Weather

The Brat Pack continues to be hopeful about lovely October weather for our Friday show at Fat City, so that we can party with you under the stars. We'll check our weather apps every few seconds until it's time to set up (or a couple of hours after we set up). If there's any hint of foul weather, we will move it inside for the safety and comfort of all.

 

Contest of the Week: What Would (you make) Tommy Tubular Do?

Maybe the question is really "What WOULDN'T Tommy Tubular do to perform with The Brat Pack?" He says he wants to sit in when we play at Boomerang's (Saturday, September 29) and that he'll do ANYTHING for it. Based on the following photographic evidence, he might be serious.

He would dress up as leprechaun and dance a jig.

He would kiss a frog right in front of St. Patrick.

He would eat an entire guitar.

And he would wear a speedo in January.

Given what you now know about him, what should Tommy Tubular have to do to get onstage with The Brat Pack next weekend?

Behind this Week's Contest of the Week: The Truth About Dinner

This week's Contest of the Week was to identify (or invent) the three course meal plus alcoholic dessert created by BGtH and JvH. The winner came up with something absolutely delicious sounding, so she wins a high quality long-sleeved, full color Brat Pack tee shirt for her creative contribution.

 

But now we feel obligated to present the truth. The truth about what they prepared and consumed that fateful evening.

 

Brendan Goes to Hollywood was the shopping assistant and sous chef for the event. Here he catalogs produce while a bottle of Fruit Loops flavored vodka hovers ominously in the foreground.

 

 

Master Chef (pronounced 'mast-shef') and Gastrophysicist, Jesse Van Halen, demonstrated proper slicing and hygiene throughout.

 



 

Brendan Goes to Hollywood chopped and chopped and chopped and chopped, creating the basis for the side dishes: cauliflower mashed 'potatoes' and a fresh and tangy tomato-cucumber-avocado salad.

 

 

Rick James, Brendan's costar from Cup Trix, stopped by to pass judgement and found the kitchen to be in good order. She did not touch or breathe on the fabulous main dish, Chicken Marbella ala Mamadoux. 

 

 

Although the guests appeared indifferent, they ate everything and complained about being too full for several hours after this shining culinary triumph.

 

 

A close up.

 

 

Late to the party was Ms. Chains, who sampled everything, pronounced it fabulous, and assisted with creation of the dessert: Rumchatta Pistachio shakes!!!