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Giddy Up America

A blog by Ryan O'Connell

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Popular culture. Music. Sports. Television. Good Times

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You Got Soul? The Commitments Always Will

You Got Soul? The Commitments Always Will

It’s a movie about a soul band. They’re from Ireland. When it comes to describing the movie The Commitments, that’s a good place to start. The 1991 film is about a young Irishman’s dream of forming the best band soul band to ever come out of Ireland. An Irish soul band might not sound right, but in young Jimmy Rabbitte’s eyes, it makes perfect sense. If soul music is a product of the disenfranchised, then who better than the Irish to take a crack at it. Or in his words: With

April 12

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The Ten SNL Sketches I Think About The Most

The Ten SNL Sketches I Think About The Most

Growing up, I was introduced to Saturday Night Live courtesy of reruns on Comedy Central. It was how I got to know Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman and then Adam Sandler, David Spade, and of course, Chris Farley. Occasionally I’d catch reruns of the first few seasons and once high school came around, I got to know some of the original cast members, but I think everyone has that one cast that was your first love and mine was that crew in the early 90s. Ah but then came Will Ferrell, arg

February 22

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Which Character From "Christmas Vacation" Would Be The Best To Drink With?

Which Character From "Christmas Vacation" Would Be The Best To Drink With?

Note: portions of this piece originally appeared on Brobible In the O’Connell house, Christmas movies adhere to a pretty strict schedule. First, there’s Elf. That is then followed by Home Alone. After that, it’s usually The Holiday and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. My wife will sneak in a couple of those wonderfully predictable Hallmark movies in as well throughout the month because I think she’s required to by law. At the very least, I feel like she’s contractually obligated to watc

December 29, 2024

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25 Questions About "Christmas With The Kranks"

25 Questions About "Christmas With The Kranks"

We’ll start here: Christmas With the Kranks is a terrible movie. It’s bad, really bad. As a movie, it should be relieved that it’s a Christmas movie because that’s the only reason why people continue to watch it. Well, unless you’re a hardcore Tim Allen head or you gear your movie-watching towards those that only include a scene in which Jamie Lee Curtis barely has any clothes on. I mean if that’s the case, you’re basically watching Christmas With the Kranks and True Lies on a loop. That’s

December 1, 2024

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Let's Be Honest With Ourselves About Corn Mazes

Let's Be Honest With Ourselves About Corn Mazes

Corn mazes. They have become an integral part of any good old-fashioned festive fall weekend, right up there with pumpkin and apple picking, hayrides (both traditional and haunted), and devouring anything pumpkin-spiced. If you’ve embarked on a day trip to a local farm during the pleasant, but flawed fall season then there’s a good chance that the farm has some sort of corn maze. And with that most likely being the case, there’s an even better chance you’ve either dove right in and attempte

November 3, 2024

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The Best Oasis Songs Ranked

The Best Oasis Songs Ranked

This weekend it word started spreading the unthinkable may be thinkable, as Oasis are rumored to be getting back together for a string of U.K. dates. In light of this, here is an updated version of this post. Oasis came out swinging. I mean, a lot of bands try and come out swinging and some do a pretty good job. But few bands come out swinging like Oasis did and I don’t think many bands ever will. It’s just something every single musician will have to accept. The band, led by brothers

September 2, 2024

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The Ten Best Phish Cover Songs Ranked

The Ten Best Phish Cover Songs Ranked

Phish has been around for some time now and as a result, the band has no shortage of original material. They have songs they’ve recorded, songs they haven’t recorded, multiple versions of songs, etc. My friends, Phish has a lot of songs. But despite having a bevy, a boatload, and bushels of their own songs, Phish also has a penchant for performing cover songs. They’ve been including covers of everyone from Led Zeppelin to the Talking Heads, Bob Marley to Jay-Z in their shows since they star

August 4, 2024

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So Whatcha Want: Every Beastie Boys Album Ranked

So Whatcha Want: Every Beastie Boys Album Ranked

I’m jealous of people out there who have yet to experience the Beastie Boys, to be able to take a fresh-faced dive into their discography and fully appreciate all of its splendor for the first time. Listening to the Beastie Boys for the first time is like thumbing your nose at gravity or any number of other tenets of polite society. It’s an unforgettable experience. For folks of a certain age (i.e. those getting a little long in the tooth,) we were blessed to be in the catbird seat as the group

June 16, 2024

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The Best Dave Matthews Band Songs Ranked

The Best Dave Matthews Band Songs Ranked

Let’s start here: The Dave Matthews Band are not a jam band. Maybe they once were, back in the day when they were traveling up and down the east coast in the early to mid-90s, cruising in the same circles as bands like Blues Traveler, Phish, and Widespread Panic. But at some point along the way, things changed. They went from a jam band to a great live band. It’s not a knock against them and certainly isn’t any kind of slight. It’s really just a minor change in distinction; a clerical matter.

June 2, 2024

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Press Space Bar To Continue

Press Space Bar To Continue

There is today, a today where computers are not only everywhere, but borderline mandatory. And today, these computers are capable of amazing things. Things like Facebook and watching Netflix and designing Power Point presentations and watching YouTube. These computers I’m assuming have games on them, or the ability to have games loaded onto them. I only say assume because I don’t play computer games. I don’t consider taking a Buzzfeed quiz to determine which character from Dazed and Confused I a

May 5, 2024

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The Time Is Right For A Cantina Band Series

The Time Is Right For A Cantina Band Series

Editor's note: This column was written at the beginning of the month. Guess what I forgot to do? It’s May 4th. In some corners of the world, this is a big day known as Star Wars Day. You know, may the fourth be with you. It makes sense that we have a Star Wars Day given its cultural impact. I mean, have you noticed some of the other “days” we have? At least Star Wars Day is something worth celebrating. Now, because it’s Star Wars Day and because again, some corners of the world are sup

May 20, 2023

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Pearl Jam Albums Ranked

Pearl Jam Albums Ranked

This was easily one of the most agonizing things I’ve ever done. I consulted with experts (my brother-in-law, a diehard Pearl Jam fan.) I did hours of research. I asked the family of rabbits who live behind our shed for advice. I covered a corkboard in Polaroids, string, and index cards to such a degree that it would make Carrie Mathison jealous. In the end, I believe I reached a conclusion I can live with. Well, at least for now. The task was to rank Pearl Jam’s studio a

May 1, 2023

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The Phantom Of The Opera Is Kind Of A Jerk

The Phantom Of The Opera Is Kind Of A Jerk

This piece was originally published in 2014. The Phantom of the Opera is currently the longest running show on Broadway. Without looking it up, I’m pretty sure it claimed that title once Cats retired. A fun fact about the connection between the two is that both musicals were composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber…actually Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. I think he’s been knighted. Since seeing Phantom this past weekend, there’s a been a few things that have stuck with me; a few things I needed to g

April 19, 2023

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Five New Rules For Biopics Of Musicians

Five New Rules For Biopics Of Musicians

Last week I watched Elvis. No, let me rephrase that. Last week I tried to watch Elvis but had to bail after the first fifteen minutes, which is a long fifteen minutes. It’s an exhausting stretch that ping pongs around a handful of key moments in Presley’s life with wild, reckless abandon, complete with swirling visual flourishes and jolting musical ques. I was on a plane. I was tired. It was frankly, too much to handle. And I felt compelled to leave it at that. I had tried and that felt lik

March 27, 2023

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A Ranking Of All Things Dave Grohl

A Ranking Of All Things Dave Grohl

Dave Grohl has always been a busy man; a whirling dervish of hard rock and loud noises. Since the age of 17 when he was hired to play drums in Scream, Grohl’s life has had him ping-ponging from one gig to the next, sometimes with multiple gigs at a time. And while he’s gone from rock solid, heavy-hitting drummer to rock steady, arena-entertaining, frontman, the fact that he is such a great drummer has helped keep him busy whenever the Foo Fighters have had some downtime. The world will always ne

February 13, 2023

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The Best Songs Of 2022

The Best Songs Of 2022

Another year coming to an end means a few things but most importantly it means it’s time to take stock of the year that was. And the only way to take stock is in list form. Rank ’em if you must but if there’s not a list involved, it doesn’t count. Those are the rules. When it comes to the year in music, 2022 brought out the heavy hitters. Beyonce and Taylor Swift both released monster albums as did Kendrick Lamar. The Red Hot Chili Peppers returned, Spoon continued to do Spoon things (i.e.

January 16, 2023

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Eight Major Issues With The "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" Movie That Continue To Bug Me To This Day

Eight Major Issues With The "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" Movie That Continue To Bug Me To This Day

With another Christmas season very suddenly upon us, we’re met with the return of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer television special once again. Now, I’ve seen the 1964 movie countless times, but in recent years, I’ve found myself more and more baffled and perplexed by the beloved holiday classic. Simply put, Rudolph has just not aged well. Watching it now, it’s obvious that it has some issues and that it has enough of those issues for the special to now be seen as both problematic and

December 18, 2022

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Trying To Understand Those Two Years I Was A Fan Of Barenaked Ladies

Trying To Understand Those Two Years I Was A Fan Of Barenaked Ladies

My high school sat in the middle of sunny Portland, Maine and was a long, large building that from a distance looked more like a prison than a high school. But it was an old high school, one of the oldest, and it was only a block or so from the unofficial center of town, Monument Square. Off to one side of the square was One City Center. In One City Center were a couple radio stations, one of which was the local alternative station and that station used an outside area on what was probably the t

November 17, 2022

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A List Of Band Names That Are Actually Good

A List Of Band Names That Are Actually Good

Band names are a slippery slope. Coming up with a quality band name is damn near impossible. Few have done it, thousands have tried. You want to sound cool, which is a tall task. But you don’t want to sound like you’re trying to be cool. Ultimately, you want something that will look good on a club’s marque, looks dope as a sticker and isn’t super regrettable down the road. Well, if you’re band makes it that far, which is also damn near impossible. My cousin was in a band once that was calle

October 23, 2022

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The Ten Best Moments From "Game Of Thrones"

The Ten Best Moments From "Game Of Thrones"

Editor's note: This article was originally published in August 2022 As we sit here, over ten years removed from the premiere of Game of Thrones, three years since the show ended, and now on the cusp of the premiere of House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones prequel, it can challenging to take stock of the show’s legacy. On the one hand, there were the massive set pieces and battles, shocking deaths, and breath-taking episodes, i.e. the stuff you are likely to remember fondly. On the o

October 3, 2022

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Lessons Learned After One Year Of Fatherhood

Lessons Learned After One Year Of Fatherhood

Editor's note: This article was originally published in 2016 As hard as it is to believe and as cliched as it is to say, I can’t believe I have been a father for almost a year now. Pretty much everything that has been said, everything written in parenting books, everything used anecdotally by celebrities in regards to fatherhood is spot on. It’s a trip, a never-ending logistical operation filled with highs, lows, exhaustion, delirium, more highs, fewer lows and much more. It’s easy to

July 17, 2022

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A Baltimore Story: Cinco De Mayo, Chris Cornell's Father, & A College Band Making Moves

A Baltimore Story: Cinco De Mayo, Chris Cornell's Father, & A College Band Making Moves

When it comes to the late Chris Cornell, the voice of Soundgarden and Audioslave, there are two things I know about him that most people might not. I know he had a brother named Peter and I know that Chris and Peter’s father passed away on May 5, 2000. Now the only reason I know these two particular facts is because the passing of the Cornells’ father led to Peter, who is also a musician, having to cancel a show he had scheduled for that night at the 8×10 club in Baltimore. Peter Cornell’

May 15, 2022

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The Time Is Right For A Cantina Band Series

The Time Is Right For A Cantina Band Series

It’s May 4th. In some corners of the world, this is a big day known as Star Wars Day. You know, may the fourth be with you. It makes sense that we have a Star Wars Day given its cultural impact. I mean, have you noticed some of the other “days” we have? At least Star Wars Day is something worth celebrating. Now, because it’s Star Wars Day and because again, some corners of the world are super pumped about it, Star Wars related-content is out there, making the rounds, including a trailer for

May 8, 2022

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The Five Best Movies About Taxes

The Five Best Movies About Taxes

Ah, yes, another Tax Day is upon us. I hope that you’ve either A) finished and completed your taxes or B) have found a way to lie low for a while if you’ve decided not to do your taxes this year. It’s only a matter of time before the cops come calling, kid. Ultimately there is nothing entertaining, fun, or enjoyable about taxes. Tax returns are kind of cool. However, they are slightly less cool if you remember that tax returns are essentially the government returning some of the money you’v

April 24, 2022

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The Ten Best Things About "Peaky Blinders"

The Ten Best Things About "Peaky Blinders"

Peaky Blinders is not a great show. On average, I’d say it’s a good show. It has its moments where it flirts with maybe not greatness, but being very good, but there are also some not-so-good parts of the show. So I think that when all is said and done and the dust settles, declaring Peaky Blinders a good show feels right. As the show heads into its final season, it’s become somewhat predictable, but no less entertaining. Each season follows something of a similar cycle, complete with the i

March 27, 2022

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