Brian's Best 3 of the Week 6/28-7/4

1. Food

Taco Rio
1022 W Douglas Ave

Wichita, KS 67203-6107

(316) 264-9252

When I was a youngster growing up here in Wichita, KS there was one place (other than McDonald's) that can be directly blamed for my weight problem...Taco Rio. Located at the corner of Douglas and Seneca this family owned Mexican establishment would've probably gone bankrupt, closed it's doors, torn down and been rebuilt as a Taco Bell or something if not for my patronage over the years. Your welcome Taco Rio. As you can see from the photo this place is top notch. The inside is even nicer! No lie. OK, this place is a dump and seats maybe twelve, but, they have the greatest cheese covered sancho ever. Whatever your favorite food is, the Taco Rio cheese covered sancho would kick it's ass. I couldn't tell you about anything else this place serves. I've never ordered anything else. I don't need to. If I were told that I could only eat one thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of my life I punch whoever said it. Then I would come to grips, apologise to said punched person and choose the Taco Rio cheese covered sancho. This bad boy is large, flour shelled, and packed with only the finest ingredients. It comes on an oblong shaped bowl/plate swimming in the best nacho cheese sauce in the world. Not crappy shredded cheese. Hell no cousin! Smooth flowing cheese that you have to spoon out when the sancho has been decimated. If you live in Wichita and you haven't been to the Taco Rio...well that's unforgivable...just try to make it by. They're open Monday thrue Saturday. Be sure to bring quarters so you can listen to Journey on the jukebox.

2. Legend

Michael Joseph Jackson

(August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

First I want everyone to forget about the last, say, 20 years. This week we should just remember the King of Pop (actually the guy who invented Coca-Cola is the King of Pop, but, that's another blog). Lets just talk about 1979-89 Michael Jackson. My father's generation doesn't wanna talk about fat, weird, jumpsuit wearing, peanut butter and banana sandwich eating, drug overdose, Vegas Elvis Presley. So lets not talk about bleach skinned, weird, monkey owning, nose changing, kid touching, Neverland Ranch Michael Jackson. Just 1979-89. OK? Oh, and I can't talk about the Jackson Five. I love Tito as much as the next guy, but, they were a little before my time. Plus, didn't Mike throw the other four bros a bone and crank out the "Victory Tour" in '84 so that Jermaine could make his Fiat payment? Honestly, I couldn't tell you anything about Marlon and Randy. I'm getting way off track. The Jackson 5 were great. The boys' father Joe was Ike Turner and Mike, Randy, Marlon, Jermaine and Tito were his Tina. Just not in my wheelhouse per say. The funny thing is when I heard the news about Jackson being taken to UCLA's Medical Center they reported that Joe was rushing to be by his son's side. Guess he needed to get in one last beating before the end. (Sorry) Back to 1979, I was three, and Jackson was coming off of his portrayal of the Scarecrow in The Wiz, a blackified musical version of The Wizard of Oz, which is where he hooked up with Quincy Jones. The two would go on to work together on three straight classic albums, 1979's Off the Wall, 1982's Thriller and 1987's Bad. Now I didn't get into Off the Wall until about two years after Thriller. My mom bought me the cassette tape at a garage sale. "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and the "Thriller" videos were blowing up on MTV and I saw Off the Wall and asked mom to get it. It was a buck. I can't remember when or how I got Thriller on vinyl. Yeah that's right! I had Thriller on record and rocked that bitch in my room on my hand-me-down record player. I would scratch and mix "P.Y.T." like I was Jam Master Jay. When I finally got a cd player I think I got Bad with eleven other cd's for a penny from Columbia House. Totally worth it. So I owned in some way, shape or form all three of those killer recordings and looking back they all had songs that still make you hit the dance floor at a wedding when they come on to this day. For my money "Billie Jean" is the greatest pop song ever. "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough", "Rock With You", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin", "Beat It", "Thriller", "P.Y.T.", "Human Nature", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Dirty Diana", "Smooth Criminal" and "Man in the Mirror" are all fantastic songs that I am not (too) ashamed to admit I like very much. Unfortunately, theres an entire generation that thinks of Michael Jackson as "Wacko Jacko", and that's too bad, because this guy was cold back in the day. The cat was ultra talented, a great singer, a great dancer, a great performer and he literally saved Africa when him and Lionel Richie co-wrote "We Are the World"! There are kids with flies on there face eating to this day because of that song. Come on. Give this guy his due. Now excuse me while I go put on my diamond studded glove (right hand), red leather zipper jacket (too tight) and try like hell to do the moonwalk (impossible).

3. Television

Entourage Season 5 on DVD

Now that HBO's The Wire is over my favorite television show is Entourage and last years season 5 is soon to be released on DVD, July 1st. Thank God. I've been watching seasons 1 thrue 4 at the crib, to the delight of my three-year-old daughter who now wants to drop the f bomb in every single sentence, "Mom I want a f---ing snack." "Mom I wanna watch f---ing Dora the Explorer." "F--- mom I don't wanna take a f---ing nap!" She got extra points for dropping it twice in one sentence that time. Nice. I forgot that Entourage uses f--- more than The Sopranos (but just under Scarface). Sorry honey. Anyway, I should be caught up thrue season 4 by time I get season 5 in the mail, if my wife doesn't kill me first. I read a review of the upcoming season 6 on HBO, new episodes start July 14th, and they hammered the boys from Queens. I believe they used the word douschebag or douschebags about twelve times when referring to Vince, E, Turtle and Drama. Ouch. Sure all these guys still live together in Vince's pad, sure they're all pushing mid-thirties (Drama mid-forties), sure each one has their own annoying narcissism's, but hey, at least theres Jeremy Piven as Ari. Right?