Caplickster: We Salute You

Last week Los Angeles' Troubadour theater hosted the Los Angeles Regionals of the Cuervo Black US Air Guitar Championships. We here at Flappy Days happen to know one of the contestants, and considering our current readership, there is about a 10 in 16 chance that you do too: Justin Caplicki, otherwise known on the Air Guitar circuit as "The Caplickster." The Caplickster took the stage last week clad in a silver cod piece, gold epaulets, a t-shirt advertising "Backstage Passes" - and I'm guessing a party of some kind - in his pants, and strike-anywhere matches taped to his fingers for the great finale of his performance of Van Halen's (what else?) "I'm on fire". And as you can see, he was, literally on fire. That's dedication to craft, folks. Caplickster made it to the second of two rounds, and came in 4th overall out of a pool of 20 competitors. Not good enough to move on to the semi-finals, but good enough to get a mention in the LA Weekly Online and to cement his name in the minds of air guitar fans everywhere. We'll be keeping on this guy - he's going places.

Caplickster - We Salute You.

Eating Out With Jen Bablow

Last night I had the pleasure of dining with an old friend. Let's just call him Jen Bablow. Bablow, who beginning today is assuming the post of Assistant to the Chicago Bureau Chief (just for reference, the Chicago Bureau Chief position is currently held by Delicious E.), admitted that he's not a regular visitor to this site. He said the chief reason was that he wanted to read about people he knew, not celebrities. Jen asserted that if Flappy Days started covering, say, him, traffic would go through the roof. I'm dubious, but just in case Bablow's correct, here are a few nuggets on the newest member of the Flappy Days family:

1. He loves Hugh Grant movies. He'll go by himself if he must. In particular, he really enjoyed Notting Hill. I think he was disappointed by Mickey Blue Eyes, but who wasn't. I never saw it myself- I protest anything that degrades James Caan any further (which includes anything featuring Scott Caan not called Varsity Blues).

2. One of his favorite all time songs is Funky Nassau, from everyone's favorite sequel, Blues Brothers 2000. Listen to it here.

3. Bablow self-diagnosed himself lactose intolerent. He figured this out years ago after dining at Gino's East in Chicago. Unfortunately, this was after consuming a pizza that looked like this:

If you'd like to know more about Bablow, or have stories of your own, please feel free to comment.