Fancy Boys Club

Fancy Boys Club March Music Madness 2023

March 13, 2023March 12, 2023by Brandon AndreasenLeave a Comment

The idea started, as all great ideas do, while listening to Saliva.

I was driving down an Arizona highway about a couple weeks ago when Click, Click, Boom by Saliva came on a local radio station. My wife, horrified by the song, told me to turn it off. I said I couldn’t turn it off, because the truth is, I goddamn love Saliva. Or, at least, I did love Saliva. It is one of those bands that everyone has in their life. You forget they exist. Then you randomly hear their song and it takes you back to a time in your life that the song was a soundtrack for.

We then got to talking about the most transformative times in our lives for music. The music that left an indelible mark on us. What was the era that helped form our musical taste, social standing, and style? As we sit in our mid 30’s, closer to the grave than we care to see fit, we look back more wistfully on the times when life didn’t feel like it was crushing us into sand. When the possibilities of the future were endless, and not filled with veterinarian bills and increasingly hostile emails from Blue Apron in your inbox.

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Comedy, food

On the Verge of Divorce

March 13, 2023March 12, 2023by copperwriteLeave a Comment

I confess. I have had quite the love affair with you Chipotle, and not from afar either. It’s been a passionate cornucopia of taste bud delightfulness from the first day I met you. But now, my heart is speaking here not my taste buds, we are on the verge of a divorce.

Even though you did come riding out on your burro burritos-ablazin’ in 1993 in Denver, it wasn’t until a fall day in Chicago in the year 2000 (or so, details are fuzzy when it comes to love) when I first encountered you. I was in awe of your selection, your speed and the quality of your fare. Frankly, without apologies, it was love at first bite.

You, however, were not my first love. Way back in the days when phones still had cords that were (unless your parents were rich) only 3 feet long so everyone within the confines of the kitchen knew who and what you were talking about I fell for the new fast-food kid on the block. I was a niño of seven, and these Americans pretending to be Mexicans were fresh, lovely and enticing.

Well maybe not so fresh but again, I was seven. Everything was fresh back then at Taco Bell. Yes, they were the first to hold me to their faux-Mexican bosom and feed me Mexican-Americanized delights. The first offering I tasted I loved – the Chili Burger which was soon changed to the Bellburger then soon after changed to the Bell Beefer. Yep. Taco Bell had a burger which was effectively a Mexicanish sloppy joe. Imagine if you will, Taco Bell’s basic ground beef liberally splashed with mild sauce, topped with cheese and squished between soft luscious buns. Loved it, but it went away. Was I crushed? A bit sad for certain but there were so many other delights on the Taco Bell menu board to try. Plus, at the time ALL of them (except for the Bellburger) had pronunciations next to them. I could get a “buh-ree-toh” or a “toh-stah-dah” or just a plain old “tah-coh.”

Look at that menu! No, ‘free-ho-lays’ were not free.

It was an affair that would last the better part of 45 years.

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Music/Movies, Oscars, Uncategorized

FBC 2023 Oscars Coverage, Part XIII: Predicting the winners, Part 5…

March 10, 2023March 5, 2023by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Well, we’ve done it! The Oscars are just a few days away. and we only have two categories left to go. Let’s get predicating!

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Music/Movies, Oscars

FBC Oscars Coverage, Part XII: The best moment in 2022 film…

March 7, 2023March 5, 2023by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

I am super-bummed out that Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans isn’t going to win any Oscars. Also, it made no money. It’s all super sad because this was the brilliant director’s look back at his childhood and how his parents helped shape the way he is. It’s a brilliant film (I had it as my #2 film of last year) and deserved a bigger audience and an Oscar for Michelle Williams had Universal put her in the supporting category as opposed to lead, which they did not.

It was a rough year for Steve all over in terms of his most personal movie.

However, The Fabelmans does have one thing no other film made last year can say. It has the best moment in all of 2022 cinema. It’s a moment that blew me away when I saw it, and I don’t know that a week has gone by since then when I haven’t thought about it. I’d like to share it with you. Maybe you haven’t seen the movie yet and this will change your mind. Maybe you did see it but glossed over it. Maybe you just liked Lyle Lyle Crocodile more. But nothing impacted me more in movies last year.

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Music/Movies, Oscars

FBC 2023 Oscar Coverage, Part XI: Predicting the winners, part 4…

March 6, 2023March 5, 2023by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Best Animated Short. Editing. Costume Design. Original Score. These aren’t the sexy categories, but if you’re going to win you’re Oscars bracket, you’re going to have to take some of these down. Here’s where I think how some of (what some people consider) the “smaller awards” will pan out…

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Music/Movies, Oscars, Uncategorized

FBC 2023 Oscar Coverage, Part X: Ranking Cate Blanchett’s nominations…

February 28, 2023February 27, 2023by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

The biggest story among this year’s acting nominations is just how new so many of these actors will be new to the Oscars stage. Of the 20 nominated thespians, only 4 have been previously nominated. However, of those four with prior nominations, one of them just happens to be one of the best working actresses in the whole goddamned world.

With her Tár nomination, Cate Blanchett now has eight nominations over her amazing career, which brings her into a tie for 9th place of total acting nods. Her company includes Glenn Close, Geraldine Page, Jack Lemmon, Judi Dench, Peter O’Toole and Marlon Brando, which is pretty good company to keep. If she can win, and this race feels like a knock-down brawl between her and Michelle Yeoh, it will be her third victory, and that company would be even more impressive. A third Oscar for the Australian actress would have her tied for second for all-time acting Oscars and just one behind the leader who you get the feeling she can probably catch and surpass (Katharine Hepburn). Watching Blanchett is truly watching one of the best be amazing, and Tár may be a perfect example of that.

Let us rank all eight of her nominating performances and just marvel at what a brilliant force Ms. Blanchett is.

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Music/Movies, Oscars, Uncategorized

FBC 2023 Oscar Coverage, Part IX: Predicting the Winners, Part 3…

February 27, 2023by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

This is a year when I am absolutely stunned that the lead acting categories are both so close. It’s easy to make a case for five people to be taking home one of these two trophies a week from Sunday. Which thespian will be walking away with acting’s biggest prize? Let’s get right into it…

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Music/Movies, Oscars

FBC 2023 Oscars Coverage, Part VIII: Predicting the winners, part 2…

February 20, 2023February 19, 2023by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

In the last few years, all of the major locks have come from the supporting acting categories. There have been no real surprises or upsets. You don’t see Olivia Colman winning over Glenn Close or Anthony Hopkins stealing Best Actor from Chadwick Boseman. There is something nice to know I can just check these off as guarantees, but also kind of a bummer to know there’s really no home for an upset.

Will 2023 be the same? Let’s take a look…

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Music/Movies

I Can’t Feel The Way I Did Before

February 17, 2023February 16, 2023by Michael GraceLeave a Comment

Twenty years ago I was sixteen, still a few years off from even comprehending what twenty years felt like. Every responsibility I have now was merely a pipe dream. Kids? Wife? Mortgage? I couldn’t begin to imagine how far away these concepts were back then. In 2003, my primary concern was getting a driver’s license. I was a suburban kid full of all of that teenage angst and disillusionment toward the world around me. I internalized every negative thought and interaction, feeling as though only I could see the cracks in the suburban façade. Linkin Park was practically handing me a tract for whatever they were preaching. Their debut album, Hybrid Theory, was my obsession. I gravitated toward their extremely catchy hooks and melodies. When they announced their second studio album, Meteora, was coming in March of 2003, it was the most important thing in my life. I had favorite musicians and bands prior to them, but no act had fully overtaken me like Linkin Park did at that time.

But as I found out- time doesn’t stop. And the only constant is change.

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Comedy

Fancy Boys Club sits down with: Jack Baker

February 16, 2023February 14, 2023by The Fancy BoysLeave a Comment

A staple of the Chicagoan suburban comedy scene for over a decade, there are few comics working more than Jack Baker. Clubs and shows love him. Audiences love him. Other comedians love him. It’s really kind of gross.

This Sunday, Jack is preparing to record his first special at The Comedy Vault in Batavia. He agreed to sit down with us and let us ask him some questions…

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