Skip to main content

Are you reelin' in the years?

Songs in my head:
"Reelin' in the Years" by Steely Dan
"Midnight Cruiser" by Steely Dan
"Dirty Work" by Steely Dan

I finished reading Fargo Rock City last night. Before I forget, I must stress many thanks to this guy for recommending it to me. Previously, I had seen the book in stores and picked it up and put it back a few times. It's a really great discussion on a style of music that is remembered mostly as a silly thing (hair metal). However, Chuck Klosterman does such a great job of writing about how we perceive, enjoy and live by the music we love. As I said yesterday, I find this book empowering because it tackles a subject matter that so many people write off as a silly.

I found this article to be rather interesting. Who would have thought there would be a backlash for a band playing for the troops in Iraq?

Maybe I'm just too jaded but I don't know how much of this is really true.

This is probably the most amount of press this guy has ever received for himself (aside from maybe a guitar magazine article). I found this quote very funny: "A spokesperson for Matchbox Twenty described the split in more concrete terms, explaining that the band 'has decided not to renew the services of Adam Gaynor.'"

If you remember the very short-lived Comedy Central talk show, The Chris Wylde Show, you might enjoy this. Post-Comedy Central, I've seen Mr. Wylde on a home redocorating show and as a pizza delivery man in a DiGiorno pizza commercial. Knowing what he looks like, I don't know if I would have recognized him last night on American Idol. Maybe it would help if I actually watched the show, but alas, I was watching Citizen Kane (with Roger Ebert's commentary track on) at the time.

I saw this headline on the Star-Telegram's frontpage and I had to laugh: "Textbooks to emphasize abstinence." Understand this, I don't think doing it when you're underage is a wise decision, but I just laugh at the sexually repressed society we live in. Those that talk like it doesn't or shouldn't happen are probably the ones that do it more than others. I'm just really tired of seeing blushing faces instead of talking about it openly.

I hear that Ben Folds' new single, "Landed," is on iTunes. Shall check it out later this morning . . .

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air...
4 comments
Read more

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five

Originally posted on Tuesday, April 11th, 2006 : For some, Ben Folds Five was merely a one hit wonder. For others, the trio was a life-changer. Myself, I’m one of the latter. Being formally introduced with the “Battle of Who Could Care Less” video on 120 Minutes , I was very intrigued to know more about this piano-bass-drums combo. Once I heard Whatever and Ever Amen , I was hooked. As a matter of fact, out of all of my favorite bands, Ben Folds Five is one of the few that I liked right away and I have held the same kind of admiration ever since. Their three proper albums (and one b-sides collection) are staples in my record collection and they may very well be (or soon be) staples in your collection too. For a band that was once described as “punk rock for sissies,” you may realize how effortlessly these guys walked between fun, semi-goofy pop songs and some really deep and powerful stuff too. It helps that they had it right from the beginning and kept maturing. Ben Folds Five (1995) ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Politics Shmolitics

Yesterday, the more pleas I saw for people to go out and vote, the more uncomfortable I felt. Plenty of the blogs I hit up everyday said something along the lines of "Vote and if you don't, don't complain." Folks, this is why I find discussing politics so alienating. There are plenty of reasons why I don't discuss politics on here or in my everyday conversations. The biggest reason is because I don't have a lot of interest in politics in the first place. By what I've seen, heard and read for the last eight years, political debates are usually pissing contests. Judging by the views I've processed, it would be easy to think that we're all slowly going downhill either on the left, right or down the middle. Yet I don't think we're going totally downhill or totally uphill. Debating the direction we're going seems futile, especially when adults start screaming at each other like they're in grade school. To my ears, political debates are s...
11 comments
Read more