I love pure pleasant pop. And a perfect example of that is a song that came up on my iPod shuffle this morning. Trashcan Sinatras "Obscurity Knocks". I could write more about it, but like a picture is a worth a thousand words, in Song a Day Blog Land, a music video is worth 100 or so words.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Closing Time
In a little over an hour, I will begin signing legal documents on the largest purchase of my lifetime -- our new house. And because Lisa's in NYC, I will need to sign thrice for each "sign on the X" -- once for me, once for her, and once more for her as her power of attorney. I expect to have a sore arm when all is said and done.
There can be no other song for today than "Our House" by Madness. Oh sure, I could have picked Crosby Stills Nash and Young's "Our House", but I love Madness. One of the bands that I would absolutely violate the reunion clause to go and see live today. Speaking of which, why the HELL have they not done any shows in the US??? The clip below is the band performing last year in front of thousands in Argentina of all places. Dammit, come to Boston, Madness. I have a brand new couch you can crash on!
There can be no other song for today than "Our House" by Madness. Oh sure, I could have picked Crosby Stills Nash and Young's "Our House", but I love Madness. One of the bands that I would absolutely violate the reunion clause to go and see live today. Speaking of which, why the HELL have they not done any shows in the US??? The clip below is the band performing last year in front of thousands in Argentina of all places. Dammit, come to Boston, Madness. I have a brand new couch you can crash on!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
On My Own
No, I will not be choosing the Patti LaBelle / Michael McDonald ballad as the song of the day, despite the title of the post (although it was one of the best karaoke moments ever when my friend Jeff sang both parts by himself). My wife, Lisa, is in New York City for a Pilates convention (she owns her own studio).
In honor of her being there, I have chosen Ryan Adams "New York, New York" as the song of the day. It's still a tad creepy that this video was shot 4 days before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. And I also sometimes wonder if the song would have been as big a hit if not for that fact. (And would Five For Fighting have had a career as well, given that "Superman (It's Not Easy)" became a pseudo anthem for the firefighters and policemen of NYC.)
But enough of that. Here's the 8/8 tune:
In honor of her being there, I have chosen Ryan Adams "New York, New York" as the song of the day. It's still a tad creepy that this video was shot 4 days before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. And I also sometimes wonder if the song would have been as big a hit if not for that fact. (And would Five For Fighting have had a career as well, given that "Superman (It's Not Easy)" became a pseudo anthem for the firefighters and policemen of NYC.)
But enough of that. Here's the 8/8 tune:
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Original Plan Not As Expected
As I said last Thursday, the wife and I are buying a new house. We close on Thursday. And sometimes my Song a Day choices will reflect what's going on in life. This week for example.
I felt I would have a couple of song's selected surrounding the sale (ooo, sibilants, fun!), but what I thought I'd choose isn't really relevant anymore. See, I pretty much feel we're go for launch and other than signing my name a bazillion times (power of attorney, I'll explain tomorrow), things should go as expected. Last week I thought I'd be choosing Warren Zevon's "Lawyers, Guns and Money", but not so much anymore.
However, I do still want to pick today's song even thought I'm not. Not what? Feeling stress. And the song is by a band called Stress. Flowers in the Rain These guys were pseudo psychedelic rockers, African American, too, so let's lump them in with the first Lenny Kravitz album fellow pigeonholers, shall we? FNX played this song, which is how I know it in the first place. Allmusic.com said the album came out in '88, but we played the song in '91. Hmmm....
Anyway, enjoy. And I'm nowhere near as stressed as I was last week. That may change in the next 48 hours, of course.
I felt I would have a couple of song's selected surrounding the sale (ooo, sibilants, fun!), but what I thought I'd choose isn't really relevant anymore. See, I pretty much feel we're go for launch and other than signing my name a bazillion times (power of attorney, I'll explain tomorrow), things should go as expected. Last week I thought I'd be choosing Warren Zevon's "Lawyers, Guns and Money", but not so much anymore.
However, I do still want to pick today's song even thought I'm not. Not what? Feeling stress. And the song is by a band called Stress. Flowers in the Rain These guys were pseudo psychedelic rockers, African American, too, so let's lump them in with the first Lenny Kravitz album fellow pigeonholers, shall we? FNX played this song, which is how I know it in the first place. Allmusic.com said the album came out in '88, but we played the song in '91. Hmmm....
Anyway, enjoy. And I'm nowhere near as stressed as I was last week. That may change in the next 48 hours, of course.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Dream Job
I made a friend via the Internet back in 1994 or 1995. Her name was Heather and she lived in Chicago. We met via eWorld, which was the nascent, AOL-esque portal for Apple owners. Although I did fly out to meet her (she lived in Chicago and I had always wanted to visit there), we did not hook up. [I state this because everyone still thinks it was an interstate booty call. It was not. Had it been proffered, well, then, yes, perhaps. But I did not fly to Chitown thinking I was John Cusack in the The Sure Thing.]
At the time, Heather worked for a company that produced tractor pulls and similar type of big loud automotive events around the country at big venues like the Pontiac Silverdome and such. Gas fumes, mega-decibel engine revving, testosterone. One of the parts of her job was to put together video clips with music that would play on the Jumbotrons between activities. Seriously, a dream job for me at the time (okay, maybe not for Monster Trucks, but you gotta start somewhere).
One day I saw the video for Ned's Atomic Dustbin which was shot with the band in a car competing in a demolition derby (one of the features of Heather's company's events). I told her she had to use the song and the video and intercut actual demolition derby footage into it; the crowd will love it. She said otherwise -- usually the music used was straight and narrow classic rock -- Skynyrd, Seger, etc. No one would know the band let along the song. But, but, but, I protested, it would ROCK!
Alas, I lost the argument. But you can decide for yourself if you think this song and video would have made for Jumbotron excellence. (side note - I also think the music lead-in of the song would make for an excellent entrance for a sports team, wrestler, improv team, board meeting, stripper dance,....)
At the time, Heather worked for a company that produced tractor pulls and similar type of big loud automotive events around the country at big venues like the Pontiac Silverdome and such. Gas fumes, mega-decibel engine revving, testosterone. One of the parts of her job was to put together video clips with music that would play on the Jumbotrons between activities. Seriously, a dream job for me at the time (okay, maybe not for Monster Trucks, but you gotta start somewhere).
One day I saw the video for Ned's Atomic Dustbin which was shot with the band in a car competing in a demolition derby (one of the features of Heather's company's events). I told her she had to use the song and the video and intercut actual demolition derby footage into it; the crowd will love it. She said otherwise -- usually the music used was straight and narrow classic rock -- Skynyrd, Seger, etc. No one would know the band let along the song. But, but, but, I protested, it would ROCK!
Alas, I lost the argument. But you can decide for yourself if you think this song and video would have made for Jumbotron excellence. (side note - I also think the music lead-in of the song would make for an excellent entrance for a sports team, wrestler, improv team, board meeting, stripper dance,....)
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Not Live, Not Memorex, Either
For whatever reason, this summer I've soured on the concept of reunion concerts. Am I really interested in seeing all of these acts 20 years down the road as middle aged rockers? Is the nostalgia pulling me hard enough? Do I want to hear the worst sentence in the English language, "We'd like to play something from our new album"?
I think The Police reunion tour was the spark of it all. I was lucky enough to see them in 1983 at Foxboro Stadium on the Synchronicity Tour. And while the reviews were for the most part positive, I wasn't sad that I didn't see them at Fenway. Saved a boatload of money, too.
There was one reunion tour I did want to see. Tonight at Harborlights, Crowded House will be live in concert. I never saw them first time around (one plus for seeing them this time) and I still listen to and like most of their music. So why are Lisa and I staying home tonight? Because I bought their new album. And while it's good, it's quite mellow. Like recent R.E.M. level mellow. And to me, Crowded House is jaunty and peppy. (At least musically; certainly some of their lyrics don't qualify).
I understand that the new CD is has the suicide of original drummer Paul Hester hanging over it. But its shadow looms too large. Which is too bad. But I will continue to buy Crowded House CDs should they release any more. So today's song a day is the first new song I've selected. The first single from the recent Crowded House album, one of perhaps two uptempo numbers. And after listening to this tune and having me call it uptempo, you'll know what I mean about the CD being mellow.
I think The Police reunion tour was the spark of it all. I was lucky enough to see them in 1983 at Foxboro Stadium on the Synchronicity Tour. And while the reviews were for the most part positive, I wasn't sad that I didn't see them at Fenway. Saved a boatload of money, too.
There was one reunion tour I did want to see. Tonight at Harborlights, Crowded House will be live in concert. I never saw them first time around (one plus for seeing them this time) and I still listen to and like most of their music. So why are Lisa and I staying home tonight? Because I bought their new album. And while it's good, it's quite mellow. Like recent R.E.M. level mellow. And to me, Crowded House is jaunty and peppy. (At least musically; certainly some of their lyrics don't qualify).
I understand that the new CD is has the suicide of original drummer Paul Hester hanging over it. But its shadow looms too large. Which is too bad. But I will continue to buy Crowded House CDs should they release any more. So today's song a day is the first new song I've selected. The first single from the recent Crowded House album, one of perhaps two uptempo numbers. And after listening to this tune and having me call it uptempo, you'll know what I mean about the CD being mellow.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
J9
One of my favorite bands is Soul Coughing. And I had the pleasure of getting to be friends with them when I worked in radio. Got to see them about 20 times in a number of different states, too. At lunch today, "Janine" came on my iPod. It's the last song on their first album, and has become a favorite singalong for the crowd at live concerts put on by Mike Doughty, their now-solo lead singer.
An example below:
An example below:
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