Saturday, February 11, 2012

Best of the Week - 2/11/12


Quote of the Week: You know what they say: getting old ain’t for pussies. (Raylan, Justified)

Song of the Week: Burnin' for You – Blue Öyster Cult (How I Met Your Mother)

Scene of the Week:



Big News of the Week: Super Bowl XLVI: Darn you New York Giants, for the second time in five years you just had to win the game late, but still leaving enough time for a potential last second drive. Remember the good old days when the Super Bowl would be a blowout and you could just sit back, relax and enjoy the party and commercials? Oh well, at least they still ended up beating Bill Belechicken and his merry band of cheater so us Patriot haters can still hang our hats on that they have yet to win a championship since Spygate.

As for those previously mention commercials: yawn (except of course all the ones that featured Adriana Lima). A week later an none really stick out to me except the Clint Eastwood one (and of course Adriana Lima) which was stupidly decried as pro-Obama. The ad was pro-America and anyone who thought it was pro-Obama or even anti-Obama as other talking heads insisted need to leave America. But as un memorable the ads were once again this year, at least none of them features some fifty year old pretending that she was still in her twenties. No one needs to see that.

Free Download of the Week: Celebrity - The Escape Club (Amazon MP3): Remember two hit wonder The Escape Club. You know Wild Wild West; “Heading for the nineties living in the eighties” and those weird arms / legs things in the video? Well they are still together and surprisingly this song is not bad. You got to feel bad for two hit wonders, not enough hits to be remembered in the annuls of time and one hit too many for the novelty of being a one hit wonder.

Deal of the Week: Blu Rays Under $10 (Forrest Gump, Batman Begins, Groundhog Day)

New Album Release of the Week: As The Crow Flies - Amos Lee

New DVD Release of the Week: Beavis & Butthead: Volume 4

Video of the Week: As lackluster as the ads during the Super Bowl were, the best one actually came after the big game when Betty White congratulated the New York Giants before teling America who will be lifting the Lombardi Trophy in 2013. I have lived through the Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, The Blown Save, The Decision, and an inferior city stealing our football team only to win the Super Bowl four years later so I have been content that I would never see a championship in Cleveland in my lifetime. But now that we have the backing of Belly White, not only to I know I see one in my life time, I believe Betty will see one in her lifetime. Mark it down: Josh Cribbs will be your Super Bowl XLVII MVP. (Please note that I will delete this post and deny I ever typed it when the Brown picks up Donovan McNabb in free agency.)



Next Week Pick of the Week: Grammy Awards, Sunday at 8:00 on CBS: It is the biggest night in music tomorrow and once again they are giving us quite a few great collaborations including Coldplay and Rihanna, Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood, Glen Campbell with The Band Perry and Blake Shelton, Alicia Keys is teaming up with Bonnie Raitt to honor Etta James, and the reunited The Beach Boys with fellow Southern Californians Maroon 5 and Foster the People. Plus the return of Adele to live performing and the first performance of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band since the passing of longtime saxophonist Clarence Clemmons. They may even pass out an award or two (I am going to go out on a very short limb and say they all go to Adele).

Friday, February 10, 2012

Around the Tubes - 2/10/12


I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Full Metal Jousting, The Voice, The Loving Story, Bunheads, The Man Who Can Fly, Gotye, Spotify, Ringo Starr, ESPN Home Court, Benny Marchant, Hardcore Pawn, Pawngo, and NBC.

- New Series Alert! This Sunday History will be jumping on the modern jouster bandwagon with Full Metal Jousting premiering this Sunday at 10:00. In preparation for the show, you can head over to history.com to find bios for the contestants and a History of Jousting article. You can also head over to History’s Twitter page (@HistoryChannel) where the host of the show Shane Adams will be posting interesting tips and facts about the competition throughout the premiere.



- Want to be the fifth judge on The Voice? There’s an app for that on Facebook. Build your own team of artists, make coaching decisions and complete against friends and other users and you can win an all expenses trip to LA where you will have a meet and greet with the Season 2 winner. There will also be weekly prizes of Voice merchandise.

- A new HBO documentary called The Loving Story naturally is premiering Valentine’s Day (that’s Tuesday for those that have not ordered their flowers yet) about a half black / half native American and white dude whose marriage was declared illegal in 1958. Their case ended up going all the way o the Supreme Count and here is a preview:



- Last week ABC Family announced they were picking up new shows Baby Daddy and Beverly Hills Nanny and this week they announced yet another new show Bunheads. The show will be executive produced by Amy Sherman-Palladino who did the same for Gilmore Girls and will feature Tony Award winning actor Sutton Foster as a Las Vegas showgirl who impulsively gets married and moves to his sleepy coastal town and gets a job at her new mother-in-law’s dance school. All three new series will begin production this spring.

- This Sunday at 8:00, the National Geographic Channel will premiere a new special The Man Who Can Fly featuring adventurer Dean Potter. He is one of the world’s most renowned rock climbers and when he is done climbing, he doesn’t just repel down, he leaps off the cliffs and mountains while wearing a special “wingsuit” that helps him sour before he deploys his parachute. Check out the trailer below:

The Man Who Can Fly – Trailer


- Goyte may not be a household name just hear stateside, but there is a good chance you have already heard his Somebody I Used to Know by now, and if you have not, there is a good chance you will sooner than later. Wall Street Journal recently sat down with Australian Wally De Backer, the singer / songwriter behind Goyte about breaking into American marker for their new “Off Duty” YouTube channel.

Gotye -- Australian Music Star -- A WSJ Exclusive Interview


- Sure it is not as good as my playlist of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of 90’s, but Barack Obama has recently created his own official Obama 2012 Spotify Playlist with everyone from Raphael Saadiq to the Zac Brown Band to the new Bruce Springsteen single on it.

- Ringo Starr recently announced his 13th All Starr Band, which will launch June 14, 2012 from Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls, Ontario and conclude July 21, 2012 at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California. New to the All Starrs are Steve Lukather (Toto) and Gregg Rolie (Santana & Journey) who will join All Starr alumni Richard Page, Todd Rundgren, Mark Rivera, and Gregg Bissonette.

- Fans of music and college basketball should be happy to learn that ESPN will start highlighting musical acts during game telecasts starting January 21. You can vote for your favorite original song on ESPN Home Court’s Facebook page.

- Benny Marchant is a rising talent in the rock and songwriter scene with his first EP, “Missed Conversations.” If you live in New York City of Baltimore, Benny will be coming to you soon to the Rockwood Music Hall and The 8x10 respectively. Head over to his Facebook page for days and time.

- Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the mid-season finale of Hardcore Pawn airs Tuesday at 9:00 on TruTV. Maybe Les Gold has an engagement ring you can buy.

- Sure it was a bad pass, but Pawngo, the first online pawn shop still delivered a 900 pound gift of Nestle Butterfingers to Wes Welker in Boston earlier this week in the center of Copley Square in Boston.

- Finally, for those that missed it during the Super Bowl, here is NBC’s Brotherhood of Man including, le sigh, Annie Edison. Please come back to television soon Annie.

Thursday, February 09, 2012

When Was the Last Time You Did Something for the First Time


A Different Kind of Truth - Van Halen

For people of my age, Van Halen with David Lee Roth is almost a mythical figure. We were just about creating our first memories by the time Jump and Hot for Teacher were getting airplay, but just at their height of success, Roth decided to instead make crappy music by himself. Really my generation remembers Van Hager much more vividly than the original lineup. Then as teenagers, Sammy Hager got kicked out of the group and everyone got excited for the good old days, even if we did not remember much of them, when the Van Halen brothers brought back Roth back into the fold to record some new songs for a greatest hits package and then promptly got the boot again after a embarrassingly bad appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards and replaced him with the dude from Extreme.

Then over the past decade, Hager was brought back for a tour and was kicked out again, this time along with longtime bassist Michael Anthony, while Roth came back in for a third stint. But this time around, David Lee Roth is less rock god that we thought him to be in the eighties and more embarrassing grandpa who tries to be cool in front of your friends. But here we are, fourteen years since Van Halen, with any singer, has released new music. For comparison, the heavily mocked Guns N' Roses took fifteen years.

Is A Different Kind of Truth worth the wait? Much like Chinese Democracy: of course not. Both long awaited albums sound stuck in a long ago era. And there is very good reason why the songs sound stuck in the past as Sammy Hager accuses that many, if not all of the songs were based off of demo from before even he was in the band. Fans were quick to point out the first single Tattoo sounds much like Down in Flames, a rare track the band played a few times in the seventies.

So for fans of nostalgia, there is plenty to get your motor running. Songs like She’s the Woman, Chinatown and As If would fit anywhere on the original lineup’s album but unfortunately none are as good as anything you will find on the greatest hits album. But there just is something missing and his name is Michael Anthony. Not only is the bass is the backbone of any band, but he was also battling The Edge as the greatest backing vocal in the history of rock and roll and the twelve year old they hired to replace him just in just not up to the task.

You would think the youngster would add something new to the band or at some point in his life would say, hey dad you should check out this new band. But no new influences are introduced on the album lending to Hager’s accusation that Dave and Eddie did no new writing for the album. And if that is the case, the music buying public is getting bamboozled with the band repackaging outtakes as a new album and not as the collector’s items as they are on a boxed set or reissue.

Song to Download – She's the Woman

A Different Kind of Truth gets a Terror Alert Level: Guarded [BLUE] on my Terror Alert Scale.



Wednesday, February 08, 2012

I Want My Music Television - 2/8/12


There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Gold on the Ceiling – The Black Keys



Why are The Black Keys not having their record release party in Akron? Seriously, Northeast Ohio just sat through another painful football season and you guys are all we have to get behind at this point. Come back home boys.


Beekeeper’s Daughter – The All-American Rejects



The latest video from The All-American Rejects reminds me of the old McG directed music videos from the late nineties which were heavy on dance sequences, all that is missing is brighter colors.


Calling Me Names – Good Old War



I like how Good Old War keyed us in on how they got their name; I would have guessed it came from the bandmate’s name. And the song is just pure bouncy fun.


Sense - Amanda Mair



Those crazy Swedes are at it again exporting yet another absurdly catchy pop singer. Just do not hold it against the seventeen year old Amanda Mair that she prefers the Spice Girls over Kate Bush because do not pretend like you do not have Wannabe on your iPod.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Breaking Down the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 90's


In a story I broke yesterday (see The 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 90’s or just listen to it on Spotify) VH1 release their list 40 One Hit Wonders of the 90’s and it sucked massively mostly because a bunch of the artists do not fit the label including: (other artists’ hits in parentheses)

#1 Baby Got Back – Sir Mix-A-Lot (Posse on Broadway, Beepers, My Hooptie, Put ‘em on the Glass, Jump on It)
#2 Rico Suave – Gerardo (We Want the Funk, Here Kitty Kitty)
#7 Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice (Play that Funky Music, Ninja Rap)
#9 Jump Around – House of Pain (Shamrocks and Shenanigans, Who’s the Man, On Point)
#11 You Get What You Give - New Radicals (Someday We’ll Know)
#12 Humpty Dance – Digital Underground (Doowutchyalike, Same Song, Kiss You Back)
#16 Jump – kriss kross (Warm it Up, Alright, Tonite’s tha Night)
#18 Unbelievable – EMF (Lies, I Believe, Children, They’re Here)
#20 Good Vibrations – Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch (Wildside)
#25 The Impression That I Get – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (The Rascal King, Royal Oil, So Sad to Say)
#28 Flava in Ya Ear – Craig Mack (Get Down)
#30 Bitter Sweat Symphony – The Verve (Lucky Man, Love Is Noise)
#36 Bad Boys – Inner Circle (Sweat (A La La La La Long))


Here are some stats from my list:

Songs by Year
1990 – 9
1991 – 6
1992 – 7
1993 – 17
1994 – 9
1995 – 9
1996 – 16
1997 – 9
1998 – 13
1999 – 5

Songs by Genre
Rap - 19
Adult Contemporary – 16
Alternative – 14
Pop - 12
Alt-Rock – 11
Rock - 8
RnB - 8
Comedy – 4
Swing - 4
Electronica – 2
Reggae - 2
Gospel – 1

Artists of whom I have multiple songs on my iPod
Blind Melon
Duncan Sheik
The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Onyx
Local H
Helmet
Nada Surf
K's Choice
Denis Leary
Robbie Williams
Shawn Mullins
Son Volt
Chris Rock
as well as Beavis and Butt-Head and Positive K on the same track

Artists Who’s Albums I Actual Bought
Wreckx-N-Effect
The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Temple of the Dog
The Tony Rich Project
Toadies
Denis Leary
Los del Río
Beavis and Butt-Head (if you count their soundtrack)
Son Volt
Chris Rock
Natural Selection
Bart Simpson (if you count that Simpson’s album)

Artist on the List that had multiple hits
- Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz appeared on the Tatyana Ali song on the list as well as Mariah Carey’s My All
- Teddy Riley of Wreckx-n-Effect was also in Blackstreet
- Dan Wilson from Semisonic recently wrote Adele’s Someone Like You and took home the Song of the Year Grammy for writing Dixie Chick’s Not Ready to Make Nice
- The namesake of The Brian Setzer Orchestra was also in The Stray Cats
- Temple of the Dog featured members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden
- Chris Gaines aka Garth Brooks the highest selling act of the decade
- Big Pun was featured on a Jennifer Lopez song
- C.C. Lemonhead and Jay Ski were in not one, not two, but three one hit wonders: Quad City DJ’s, 95 South and 69 Boyz
- And do not forget the artists who had or are still having massive careers in their native lands like Take That of which Robbie Williams is a member of, Los Del Rio, Snow, and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.


Song about the Female Posterior: 5 (6 if “Lick your boom-boom down” counts though I am not entirely sure what Informer is about or if that is actually what Snow is singing)

Monday, February 06, 2012

The 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 90's


A couple months ago VH1 aired a special of the 40 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 90’s and it sucked massively. It seemed like all of their selections either were horrible songs (Rednex), artists even I have never heard of (Imani Coppola) and most erroneous were not even legitimate one wonders (almost forty percent of their list by my account). More on VH1’s list tomorrow. I was so irate at their list I started out on making my list. As it turns out of their top forty, only fifteen made my top 100. Even though some guy coined the phrase “One Hit Wonder” as landing one and only one song in Billboard’s top 40, but one hit Wonders are much more subjective and let’s face it, in the nineties, MTV had much more influence on what was a hit that Billboard. And since I watch a lot of the former music television and listened to a lot of alternative radio and rap music, my list is skewed to that. And I am sure my list will probably make people as irate as I was at the one VH1 release. If that is the case, that is what the comment section is for. Without further ado, here is my list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 90’s (head over to Spotify to listen to the list).

1. Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand - Primitive Radio Gods

2. No Rain - Blind Melon

3. Bad Reputaion - Freedy Johnston

4. I Wish – Skee-Lo

5. Everything Falls Apart – Dog’s Eye View

6. Barely Breathing - Duncan Sheik

7. Deja Vu (Uptown Baby) - Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz

8. No Myth - Michael Penn

9. Rump Shaker - Wreckx-N-Effect

10. Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) - Us3

11. I Got a Man - Positive K

12. Closing Time - Semisonic

13. Jump, Jive an' Wail - The Brian Setzer Orchestra

14. Slam - Onyx

15. Let Me Clear My Throat (Live) - DJ Kool

16. Hooch - Everything

17. Walking In Memphis - Marc Cohan

18. Fade Into You - Mazzy Star

19. Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog

20. Life Is a Highway - Tom Cochrane

21. Bound for the Floor - Local H

22. Mockingbirds - Grant Lee Buffalo

23. Here and Now - Letters to Cleo

24. Low - Cracker

25. Nobody Knows - The Tony Rich Project

26. Feed the Tree - Belly

27. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

28. Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something

29. Silent Lucidity - Queensrÿche

30. Unsung - Helmet

31. Back for Good - Take That

32. C'mon N' Ride It (The Train) - Quad City DJ’s

33. Tubthumping - Chumbawamba

34. Return of the Mack - Mark Morrison

35. Popular - Nada Surf

36. Not an Addict – K’s Choice

37. Tequila - A.L.T. and the Lost Civilization

38. Walk This World - Heather Nova

39. Push - Moist

40. Ditty - Paperboy

41. Stomp (Remix) - God’s Property from Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation featuring Salt

42. Naked Eye - Luscious Jackson

43. Possum Kingdom - Toadies

44. A*****e - Denis Leary

45. Sunny Came Home - Shawn Colvin

46. Cannonball - The Breeders

47. Angels - Robbie Williams

48. Knockin’ Boots - Candyman

49. Lullaby - Shawn Mullins

50. Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix) - Los del Rio

51. Insensitive - Jann Arden

52. I Got You Babe - Beavis and Butt-Head featuring Cher

53. Tic Tac Toe - Kyper

54. Informer - Snow

55. Connection - Elastica

56. Lost in You - Chris Gaines

57. Drown - Son Volt

58. Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers

59. Crush - Jennifer Paige

60. Whoomp! (There It Is) - Tag Team

61. Hard to Say I'm Sorry - Az Yet featuring Peter Cetera

62. Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...) - Lou Bega

63. No Sex - Chris Rock featuring Gerald Levert

64. All Cried Out - Allure featuring 112

65. Flood - Jars of Clay

66. I Love You Always Forever - Donna Lewis

67. Because I Love You (The Postman Song) - Stevie B

68. Live and Learn - Joe Public

69. Pepper - Butthole Surfers

70. Steal My Sunshine - Len

71. Zoot Suit Riot - Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

72. Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo’ole

73. One More Try - Timmy T

74. Do Anything - Natural Selection

75. Battle Flag - Lo-Fidelity Allstars featuring Pigeonhead

76. Back In The Day - Ahmad

77. Ready to Go - Republica

78. Freak Me - Silk

79. Here In Your Bedroom - Goldfinger

80. Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger

81. Here Comes the Hotstepper - Ini Kamoze

82. Joey - Concrete Blonde

83. Whoot, There It Is - 95 South

84. Daydreamin' - Tatyala Ali

85. Send Me On My Way - Rusted Root

86. Circles - Soul Coughing

87. Mother 93 - Danzig

88. Still Not a Player - Big Punisher featuring Joe

89. Groove Is In the Heart - Deee-Lite featuring Q-Tip

90. Laid - James

91. Do the Bartman - Bart Simpson

92. 6 Underground - Sneaker Pimps

93. California - Wax

94. Da' Dip - Freak Nasty

95. Three Little Pigs - Green Jellö

96. C'est La Vie - B*Witched

97. Deeper Shade of Soul - Urban Dance Squad

98. Dazzey Duks - Duice

99. Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinéad O’Connor

100. Wanna Be a Baller – Lil’ Troy featuring Fat Pat, Yungstar, Lil' Will, and H.A.W.K.


Sunday, February 05, 2012

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 2/5/12


Once Upon a Time: I started to wonder why the genie who turn on the guy that set him free, but then realized guys always do stupid things for love (and of course the genie even warned the king that all wishes turn out wrong). But I sniff out the double cross early on because I really doubted that the Evil Queen’s most loyal subject in the fairytale world would turn on her in the real world. And even if I did not realize it right away, nothing telegraphs an inside job like having the new playground plans queued up at the city council meeting. Of course Emma is too dumb to realize that Sydney is playing her. And apparently there are no Tea Party members because just taking out $50,000 of public funds for a playhouse without asking anyone should have still gotten Regina (who apparently is so vain she did not even bother to change her name in the real world) in trouble. One thing that is bothering me is if Storybooke has been in extended animation for thirty years, how do they have cell phones to text each other with? Should they not be stuck in the eighties in terms of technology?
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

House of Lies: Say what you will about House of Lies, it is boring, the characters are unlikable, it is unfunny; but it did give us Veronica Mars dancing in her underwear. Now if that will happen every week the show will finally reach its potential because Ronnie’s big secret turning out that she is engaged will not cut it.

Pretty Little Liars: The whole Allison in the wig thing adds credence to my theory that she had a twin. But who goes to a salon with a wig on, then take said wig off in the middle of her appointment? And I was disappointed that what Spencer had on Hanna’s step sister was that she had bug bites from camp when she was like ten. And Spencer seriously kept the picture on her phone? That speaks less of Spencer than the step-sister.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Pretty Little Liars on iTunes.

The Lying Game: Sure it was obvious when she Rebecca confronted Annie last week, but did she actually confirm that she had kids that she gave up and that Alec had something to do with?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Lying Game on iTunes.

Switched at Birth: Oh snap, it was actually grandma that called INS. But why would that take him and his clothes? Seems a little odd.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Switched At Birth on iTunes.

Justified: Just when you thought Justified could not come up with a new showdown, two criminals turn their guns on each other. Awesome. And I doubt anything will displace “Use it or throw it away” as my favorite Raylan quote of all time, but dropping a bullet on the dude with the weird forehead and telling him, “The next one is coming faster” quickly moves up to the second position.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes: It is ironic that Vinnie went on this long diatribe about how Mandi (who very well may be the ugliest hot chick ever) hooked up with the wrong person when it turned out he was the wrong person to get Biblical with. But it is odd that they shipped Vinnie home, but the chick who punched her partner (who, if I am not mistaken punched a mirror last season) did not. But I was glad to see Wes go home, I am a bit tired of these repeat guys who tend to run challenges again and again.
You can stream recent episodes over at mtv.com. You can also download The Challenge: Battle of the Exes on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: I still do not understand why Leonard has not gotten a lawyer to comb through the Roommate Agreement for loopholes like the one Sheldon executed this week. I would do it just to toy with him.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.