Baseball? BAH! Vinyl Is on HBO Instead

Yeah, it's baseball's opening day, and the Yankees are finally playing their home opener. I am a Comcast subscriber, sooooo... I choose to watch HBO's incredible new series Vinyl instead. If you grew up in the 60's and 70's in our area (CT/NYC) and you're a classic rock, or basically, any kind of music fan, you should watch it. Vinyl is produced by a dream team of legends in movies, tv, and music. Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger, Terence Winter, and Ridgefield, CT resident Rich Cohen created the series.

Vinyl is about a struggling record label in New York City in the 70's. Most of the series takes place in Manhattan, but there are some sequences set in good ol Greenwich, CT. The main characters are portrayed by Bobby Cannavale, whom I fell deeply in love with when he starred alongside my other favorite Hudson Valley resident Peter Dinklage in The Station Agent. The painfully beautiful Olivia Wilde, Ray Romano, and Mick Jagger's real life son James. If you are a fan of HBO's The Sopranos, you will be delighted to see a few of the actors in this series also. Vinyl really takes you into the business aspect of making music, discovering new artists, and the handling of established artists. In the 8 episodes that I've watched so far, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, John Lennon, Alice Cooper, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, Andy Warhol, and the King himself Elvis Presley have all been featured in the storylines.

Thrilling sequences and brutally truthful and unflinching scenarios unfold throughout the series so far. Murder, drug abuse, and sexual situations abound. This is not a show for the kiddies. But, if you're a semi-adult like I am? I highly recommend it. I've always loved the series that HBO showcases on Sunday nights, from Sex and The City to Game of Thrones, and The Wire to Boardwalk Empire, this is the highest quality entertainment ever created in my opinion. Well worth the measly $20 a month in subscription fees.