It is about time for the guy on the left in this picture (David Chase) to get the guy on the right (James Gandolfini) back on the air. Like this very second.

Personally, I am going out of my mind with predictions about what will happen in the final nine episodes of The Sopranos. I've been devouring old seasons trying to find clues. It's pretty obvious to me that Chase (the creator of the series), doesn't just throw things out haphazardly, even if he denies some of his reoccurring events.

Specific conversations happen for a reason, and often for reasons beyond the specific episode that they take place in. There always seems to be a level of continuity in characters' actions (at least more so than other television series). It feels like there was a well-planned arc for the show, and we are just about ready to see the end. Watching Season 6 again has been informative for the immediate lead up, but Seasons 1 and 2 have been the ones that shed the most light, in my opinion, on where Tony's life is headed.

Anyway, just to go on record, which undoubtedly will make none of these things occur, I am going to make the following predictions:

1) We find out that Janice has flipped and is ratting everyone out to the FBI. I'm guessing they either have her on some new crime we don't know about, or Chase, being the master of misdirection that he is, has made us forget about Richie Aprile's death and/or the fight with the Russians. But the FBI didn't forget about either.

2) Because Janice flips, and because of the hostility in the NY crew, Meadow gets clipped. New York is either looking for extreme payback without taking out a boss, or the grapevine starts saying that a female Soprano is a rat (and Meadow working as a lawyer would make her a prime suspect in the eyes of the dimwits that will run the Brooklyn crew after Phil dies). Or maybe Meadow goes for a reason unrelated to that altogether. But I'm fairly certain she dies.

3) Tony goes crazy after his sister betrays him and his daughter is gone. A killing spree begins. Bobby gets killed and maybe Junior (I could see Uncle Junior just dying on his own).

4) Despite what everyone thinks, Vallery, the Russian from the Pine Barrens episode, does not come back into play. Total red herring. Or if he does become something in the story, it might just be a lead up to a quick death of someone important (Paulie maybe). But that seems too abrupt for The Sopranos. And if it was Tony, Paulie or Christopher that quickly gets killed because of the Russian, I think you would see riots in the streets in real life. I don't think it happens at all. Russians? Forget about 'em.

That's all I've got. I still don't know what happens to Tony, but obviously something has to. I can't see him going to jail. It would be too unsatisfying an ending to have the FBI win. And as much as Chase loves his dream sequences, we won't get a Dallas-like ending, especially after the coma dreams. But Tony has to be somehow knocked out of his position in the family and in his personal life so that the viewing audience doesn't sit around and bitch and moan for more episodes (I will be one of the loudest shouting for more episodes if Chase leaves that door open even a crack). It has to have a M*A*S*H like ending where you know the show is done and everyone is okay with it.

See what I mean? I'm thinking about this way too much. Time for new episodes... NOW!

First of the final episodes premieres on Sunday, April 8. I will be up in Chicago enjoying Grizzled at Lava the night before. The day of, I'm gonna cook up a nice chicken cacciatore for everyone at Mikey's, settle in and get more frustrated that they don't air all nine final episodes all in a row that Sunday. But hopefully I will be placated with a good exchange between Paulie and Christopher.

Chilled Beats Premiere

This past Sunday I started a radio show with my good buddy Rory (who also happens to be one of the best local DJs I know). It's called Chilled Beats and if you're in the Champaign/Urbana area (more Urbana, the signal strength isn't the best), you can tune in from 10 pm to midnight every Sunday on 104.5 fm to hear us. You can also listen to the live stream on www.wrfu.net or wait until we post up the archived copy.

The first show went extremely well, especially considering that Rory and I did not discuss what exactly we each thought "Chilled Beats" meant. What it ended up being was a wide variety of sounds from downtempo, to laid back hip hop, to trip hop, to atmospheric drum and bass, to some undefinable stuff that all clicked together. We've got the technical kinks worked out now (i.e. how to properly operate the microphone), so the show should only get better from here on out.

This week we just let the station archive it, so the mp3s are only 96kpbs, but that should be good enough for basic listening purposes (don't try to play this over a stadium sound system). Also, no setlist this week, but we will endeavor to fix that so you know exactly what we're playing. Without further delay, here is the first show:

Chilled Beats (March 18, 2007 Part 1)

Chilled Beats (March 18, 2007 Part 2)