Good Guilty Pleasure stuff

This morning I read that the Spice Girls are getting back together for a fall reunion tour. I have to admit that I kinda liked and still kinda like the Spice Girls persona, not so much their music. I know a lot of people were seriously annoyed by them, but I kinda liked them. In terms of their music they had two really good kitschy bubble gum pop songs "Say You'll Be there" and "The Lady is a Vamp". And Mel C. aka Sporty Spice released a pretty decent solo album a few years back called "Northern Star" that was more rock based. While I wouldn't pay $150 to see them on this reunion tour, but I will cop to liking the film "Spiceworld" and watching it every time it comes on HBO or Showtime!

I consider some of the Spice Girls music good guilty pleasure bubble gum pop and my one vice that I will cop too is guilty pleasure danceable pop music! I have the following songs on my ipod:

"Don't Cha" by the Pussy Cat Dolls; This song kinda explains my relationships with some men in the past and I just think it's a good dance tune and I'm dying to do a punk version of this song!!

"Buttons" by the Pussy Cat Dolls; Another really good dance tune that I dance too like an idiot when no one is watching!

The entire Fergie solo album "The Dutchess"; Another really good dance album, I like to sing that I'm "Grimmalicous" rather then Fergalicious

"Let's Get It Started", "Pump it" and "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas; "My Humps" has to be one of the stupidest, sexiest songs out there but I like it! Good party tunes!!

"Bootylicous" and "Independent Women" by Destiny's Child and "Crazy In Love" by Beyonce; I love me some Beyonce!!


I have the "Saturday Night Fever" and some old school disco Jackson 5 songs. So who knows maybe in thirty years time "My Humps" will be a dance floor classic!!


I've copped to my guilty pleasure music....now what is yours???

PETA is stupid............and other things

Just before I read a story about how PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wrote Michael Moore an open letter criticizing him for making a film about the health care industry "Sicko" when he is overweight and a meat eater.



I'm sorry but I have a problem with PETA, while I feel they have good intentions, but they are extreme in their actions, which makes people not want to take them seriously. I understand trying to make people aware of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet and the danger of fur farms and puppy mills, but when you call someone fat and a hypocrite because they choose to eat meat or when you throw red paint on someones fur coat because they choose to wear a fur coat, it almost boarders on terrorist/child like actions. Your not respecting that persons lifestyle choice and therefore not making them aware of your plight and so they aren't going to take what you tell them seriously.

I remember when I lived uptown there was this woman who was an animal rights activist that used to try and get people to sign her petition and she would cuss out and yell at people who walked by wearing fur or leather or walking a pure bread dog! Now after she would scream at people I wondered who would want to speak to her about the issue after she would scream and cuss at them??

Onto the next thing!

While I'm in a ranty mood besides people who hold up the subway by running onto the train at the last minute..another pet peeve of mine is people who chew ice! I sit in a cube for eight hours a day (oh fun!) and either the guy in the cube across from me or the girl in the cube next to me not sure which one.. chomps on the ice in their drink every afternoon. It's so skeevy to me when people do that! It's like nails on a chalk board or people popping their gum to me!! Ewwww gross!!

Well onto some non ranty things! I'm so excited for two reasons the first being that last night I got to sit and chat with the super cool New York band the Violets last night. I should have the interview up and posted by the weekend.

The second thing is, this friday afternoon (thank god for summer fridays) I'm taking a DJ course at Scratch Academy with my friend Diane! I'm really looking forward to it!! I'll be known as the blogging DJ!! Hehe!!

Here is the link to the Violets myspace page:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=7641708

Get Your Kurt Cobian Lunchboxes......

This morning I read in the paper that Courtney Love has given her blessing (and I'm sure she was paid a pretty penny for this too) for Kurt Cobian's image to be used for lunchboxes, thermoses, flasks, key chains and action figures.

If you recall a few months ago, Courtney pitched a fit when Doc Martins used Kurt's image to sell their shoes in print advertisements over in England. Kinda hypocritical don't you think?

The corporate world and Madison Avenue taking beloved late rock icons images and turning them into key chains and bed sheets and using their songs to advertise allergy medication and cars kinda cheapens the music and the image for me. But then again the record industry is in such shambles right now everyone is having a hard time getting their music heard. Jon Bon Jovi was on Howard Stern the other day and Howard asked him why he went on "American Idol" and he pretty much said that he had to go on AI to promote his latest record because now you can't have your song played on the radio like you used too twenty or ten years ago, you have to find other outlets.

To me I think the future of the music industry and how new music is going to get out there is blogs and unfortunately gimmicks such as "The Band in the Bubble" and doing some type of gimmicky internet video and selling your music for ads!!


I once saw an interview with Roger Daltrey from the Who and the interviewer asked him what he thought of the Who's music being used in all these advertisements and he said he thought it was a great thing because, he felt that the Who gained a whole new generation of fans from these ads.

Maybe in hindsight old Rog is right, if a thirteen year old kid who has never heard Nirvana before is inspired to pick up "Nevermind" or "Bleach" after seeing someone wear a Kurt Cobian t-shirt or if that kid is inspired to pick up "Quadrophenia" after hearing a Who song in a Ford ad then maybe that isn't such a bad thing.

Crappy Covers...

retroCrush has put together a very funny and good list of really bad cover songs. Some of the songs on the list I actually like I don't mind Lisa Marie Presley's version of "Dirty Laundry", I like the Dixie Chicks' version of "Landslide" better then the Smashing Pumpkins, I like the Lemmonheads' version of "Mrs. Robinson", I think it's kinda rockin' and I like Save Ferris' version of "Common' Eilene", I always thought that girl from Save Ferris Monique, had a better voice then Gwen Steffani.

But the rest of the list is pretty spot on and the comments are very funny! A few of the songs on the list include Puffy/P. Diddy's version of "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin. I loathe P. Diddy or Puff Daddy or what ever his name is right now, he is such an obnoxious prick! But I remember when P. Doofy's version of the song came out and I remember seeing an interview with him and Jimmy Page and Jimmy Page said in this interview that he liked what P. Doofy did with the song. I sat there and I thought to myself wow P. Doofy must have driven the Brinks truck up to Jimmy Page's door for him to agree to be in the video for this travesty of a cover and he must have given him another fifty grand to actually say that he liked what P. Doofy did!! I also remember around the time P. Doofy's version of the song came out SNL did a parody on P. Doofy's "musical" talents. Tim Meadows played P. Doofy and he was supposed to be giving MTV an exclusive scoop on his new song and it was an Aerosmith song and every once in a while the music would stop and you'd hear Tim Meadows as P. Doofy go "Yeah Yeah Boooyzz, give it up for Biggie"! I guess the lesson of P. Doofy covering "Kashmir" for all you musicians out there is don't squander your royalty money on gak, 14 year groupies and trying to become Alistar Crowley or else twenty five years later you wind up in a video with a third rate shitty rapper who is doing a shitty cover of one of your songs!

Another song on the list is DJ Sammy's techno/dance version of the song "Heaven" by Bryan Adams. When I hear that song I'm reminded of Woodside Queens and the Irish Pubs out there! For all of you not in the know Woodside is pretty much Little Dublin, it has a HUGE Irish (off the boat) population and the pubs out there are hardcore Irish Pubs. My friend Sophia used to live out there and when we would go out to this one pub Sean Ogs, they would always play this song!! And there was a techno/dance cover of "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac sung by some girl who sounded like she sucked in too much helium that they used to play all the time at Sean Ogs!!

Also on the list is Motley Crew's cover of the Sex Pistols "Anarchy in the UK". Vince Neil's attempt at singing with a British accent is really laughable as is the notion that a LA glam hair metal band is covering a punk song which pretty much is a protest song against working class life in 1970's England. I remember seeing the video of the Crew version of this song on MTV when I was about 11 before I discovered punk and I remember thinking even back then how lame their version of the song was!

You can send your suggestions into retroCrush, I suggested Hillary Duff's version of "My Generation". All I can say is why does she cover the ultimate song of teen rebellion and what does she and all her all her 13 year old fans have to rebel against?? Wearing one white sock and one blue sock to school?? Refusing to brush your giant horse teeth before bed?? Or saying the word poop in front of the guy from Good Charlotte?? I haven't heard it I only read that she was doing it in her concerts, I'm curious to know if she sings the line "I hope I die before I get old"??! Or if she has changed it to "I hope Mom let's me go to the mall"??! And does she do a tap dance during the bass solo??

Here is the link for the list, it will make you think and give you a chuckle at the same time!

http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2007/badcovers/index.html

The word is getting out.....

My chat with the great Ethan Gold got picked up by international news site Oh My News.com.

Check it out!!



http://english.ohmynews.com/ArticleView/article_view.asp?menu=A11100&no=367927&rel_no=1&back_url=

Ethan Gold

Ethan Gold is a brilliant singer-songwriter, producer and musician. He is in the New York City based band the Honey Brothers and is also in a band with his twin brother Ari called the Gold Brothers. And he is the producing mastermind behind Elvis Perkins' album "Ash Wednesday". Growing up Ethan's mother dated the famous music promoter Bill Graham (the man behind the Filmore West and East) and was tragically killed along side of Graham when his helicopter crashed in 1991. Ethan was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule to sit and chat about his music, his childhood and the state of music today. There was so much to talk about and hopefully this is just the first of many chats with Ethan.


AG: I read your bio and read how you came to produce "Ash Wednesday" and it really seems as if you have had an interesting upbringing filled with lots of colorful people. With Elvis and "Ash Wednesday" and from every interview that I read with him and just by listening to the album it seems as if the tragic deaths of his parents and his parents influence and upbringing seem to be central themes in his music. With your own music how much of your upbringing and your mother's influence do bring to your own songwriting process? Or is your songwriting process influenced by other things or is it a little bit of both?


EG: As with anyone, my upbringing affects my work just as it affects my personality. I don't think anyone generates their art in a vacuum. People react with or against their own experience. Sometimes the press or popular myth likes to pretend that an artist was born fully formed out of the belly of the land, but nothing comes from nothing. As to my mother's influence, I don't discount the possibility that she is with me in some way even now. I write a lot of songs in my sleep. Maybe that is my way of co-writing with the spirit realm

AG: Your mother dated Bill Graham and you write about when you were a kid seeing Ronnie James Dio era Black Sabbath, Peter Frampton and Cheap Trick etc. And as dorky as this sounds when I was twelve I looked at Pete Townshend and I knew I wanted to be doing what he was doing when I was a grown up! And sorry this is such a cliched question, but when you were a kid did you ever look at any of those guys and think to yourself that is what I wanna be doing when I grow up!?

EG: Of course I did, though I didn't allow myself to entertain the notion until quite late. I didn't have music lessons so I always felt behind the kids who knew how to sing and play piano and dance. I was out playing tackle football in the street or hiding somewhere. My music at that point was banging on a piano when nobody was around. I suppose that freed me up to write music long before anyone noticed that I seemed to be drawn to music. Maybe seeing those rockers early planted a seed, but the first concert I ever went to of my own accord was Depeche Mode, and the whole time I was thinking I should be on stage, not in the audience. I had an elaborate fantasy that one of them would be sick and they'd need someone to play keyboards, and I'd go on stage and do it. I think that happened to a Who fan once when Keith Moon was too drunk to play, Pete Townsend asked if there were any drummers in the audience and this kid was invited up and he nailed it. In my case, the fantasy involved sucking in my cheeks, looking morose, and playing keyboard parts that were probably prerecorded.

AG: Another question about your songwriting process, I'm assuming now your based out of New York City and you wrote about living in this dark apartment in LA that was full of mold and you were in a very dark place and were writing this very dark rock opera. Being in New York do you notice a difference in your mood and in your songwriting process?? Also do you notice a difference between the New York and LA music scenes?

EG: I actually mostly still live in LA. I consider myself an Earth resident.I'm not in the toxic apartment anymore, but I am still in a very cheap apartment, but it's clean. I'm finishing a record about the toxic apartment now. I go back and forth to New York. I play with a band the Honey Brothers there. I find LA to be an easier place to write, mostly because it's a city that gives nothing if you don't ask, where as New York gives and gives and takes whether you are asking or not. LA ignores you. So in LA I can hole up, and there's more space to receive energy. I love New York, I find it exhilarating and beautiful and endlessly mysterious and strangely comforting, like a human forest. But I write a whole lot more in LA. The songs just appear, like breathing. As to the scenes, LA has a lot more cheesy clubs than New York, but also a few more good clubs. It's a big megalopolis, the capital of the third world, if you know how to find its charms, which aren't the ones you see on celluloid. But in both places the cool kids can be just as annoying as the cheesy kids. A lot of very attractive hipsters are totally boring. I'd prefer to go to a Korean restaurant just so I don't have to hear the English language turned into something so bland.

AG: I know there will always be the popular stuff of the day that is sub pare that is always going to sell and appeal to both the soccer moms and the fifteen year old girls, now it seems as if that is Panic at the Disco and Fall Out Boy. It also seems now as if there is some really good music getting out into the mainstream i.e., the Amy Weinhouse record, The Cold War Kids record etc. Do you think that there is room for Ethan Gold and what he does in the mainstream along side of bands like Fall Out Boy??

EG: Well, that's something I try to figure out. I do believe in choruses, whicha lot of indie bands don't. Emo's not my thing at all, but I understand why those bands are popular. Actually before emo really became really popular I described myself as emo, because I make emotion music as opposed to party music. But obviously I'm not making emo as it means in the world now. But I do like to give people something to hold on to, that will stay in their heads. I don't mind game and pleasure in songwriting but I'm not interesting in listening to puzzles.I don't pretend to understand the music industry. Other than to say it's kind of tragic how much crap gets pushed on people, and always has. The industry is responsible for its own downfall. I hope things are getting better. At least they are getting more interesting.

AG: Which leads me to the last question.....how is Ethan Gold and his music going to change the world??

EG: That's a question that if I answer in any way is bound to make me look to a pretentious twat. But I can try anyway, if you promise not to edit that sentence. I also have some pro-life-on-planet-earth 'environmental' songs creeping in, but I don't like to preach. At least not in song form. If there is politics in my songs I put it in personal terms. Mostly how I change 'the world' is I accompany listeners on nights of terror. I am there with you. I have a lot of internal anguish from a difficult childhood, made more difficult by a sensitive and conflicted spirit, and I unfurl those coiled nightmares through my music and try to rebuild them into something healing. That's why sometimes they sound like lullabies, but they are for people who feel broken.

To hear Ethan's brilliant music for yourselves check out his myspace page, linked on the page are all the various musical projects he is involved with:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=8828937&MyToken=e7e93e7a-0617-408c-a85f-f22d27289467

Memories........

Yesterday I was very upset to learn that Mr. Wizard passed away. I can remember faithfully watching his show on Nickelodeon after school every day, I really hated school (dyslexic misfit long story for which I will save for the memoir) and I really hated science but he made me like learning about science. He was like your kindly, really cool and wise grandfather teaching you about science. After reading that obit about Mr. Wizard and having a conversation about "The Gong Show" and "Love Boat" with my roommate, it got me thinking about the shows that I used to watch when I was kid.

There was Mr. Wizard and "You Can't Do that on Television", "You Can't Do that on Television" was another favorite after school show of mine, I had the biggest crush on that kid Alasdair I was totally jealous of Alanis Morrisette (the most famous YCDTOT alumni) cause Alasdair had a crush on her! And I loved it when they were in the lockers and they told jokes it was like a kids version of "Laugh In" and then they got slimmed when they said I don't know. I remember each episode had a topic for instance in one episode they would do skits about personal hygiene or about foreign countries, and they had the same two adult actors play every adult role i.e. the mom, the dad, the cook, the teacher etc.


There was also "Double Dare", I never got into that and I can't remember if this show was on Nickelodeon or regular TV but does anyone remember the game show that was on saturday mornings called "I'm Telling"?? It was kinda like the "Newlywed Game" for kids but it was brothers and sisters, I remember being really mad cause it was only brothers and sisters who were able to go on that show and I had two sisters!

I also watched the "Love Boat" as a child. I can remember being dazzled by the stars that would guest on that show and I can remember thinking that life on that big boat with Julie, Gopher, Doc and Issac looked so glamours and foxy!! And don't laugh but I had a huge crush on Captain Stubing, it was more a daddy thing, schadenfreude on my part towards Vicky. I was envious of the fact that she got to live on that boat, didn't have to go to school, had a super cool dad and had a super hot bowl hair cut! I can recall one episode were Andy Warhol was a guest star and Marion Ross (aka Mrs. C from "Happy Days) was one of his superstars! I'm sure you can find that on youtube.com! That was the great thing about that show they would have people like Sir Lawrence Oliver and Bette Davis as guest stars and they would also have on people like Anson "Potsie" Williams and Charo on as guest stars in that same episode and Anson "Potsie" Williams would be playing Bette Davis' grandson and Charo would be playing Sir. Lawrence Oliver's love interest, that was the genuis of "The Love Boat"!!

It amazes me what I watched as a child!! The shows in the late 70's and 80's seemed so big and cliched, but yet so educational at the same time.

Last November

Last night, I went to Club Midway on Avenue B and had the distinct pleasure of hearing a great new band from Atlanta GA called Last November. Their sound is a unique blend of pop, punk and good old southern rock!! You can hear the influences of everyone from the Beatles to Nirvana to Lynyrd Skynard. The band is lead by a charismatic and charming young en' by the name of Luke who has a very rockin' strong voice and a strong stage presence, he is complemented by some really talented musicians, Tyler on bass, Taylor on drums and backing vocals, Chris on keys/guitars and vocals. Luke has graciously agreed to answer some of my questions and I will publish that interview within the next few days. Last November is on tour up and down the east coast at the moment, tonight they are in Asbury Park NJ at the Saint. Their myspace page is linked below so you can see were they are playing next and hear how good their music is for yourselves!http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=2414402

The Sopranos

Spoilers ahead

The ending of last nights episode really bugged me! Did the guy at the counter or the dudes who walked in before Meadow take Tony out?? They kept looking at Tony and Tony kept looking at them like something was gonna happen. When the TV faded to black did that mean that something bad happened to Tony, the look on his face when Meadow walked in was as if something bad was about to go down so did he get shot? Or does life go on as it normally does in the Soprano household? I guess David Chase is leaving it to us the viewers to decide what happens to Tony and his family. My roommate and I thought something was wrong with our HBO when the TV faded to black like that, HBO sometimes shows up on our boxes sometimes and other times it doesn't. The way Phil was killed was seriously gruesome, I had to cover my eyes, but I found it strangely funny that the one witness vomited. And what is going on with Tony's gun charge from the first episode this season?? There was just the one scene were he was talking about it with his lawyer and that was it. Then there was the issue of Patsy Jr. taking cases that would ruin Tony's business interests. And Paulie and Sil, is Sil a goner, does Paulie retire from mob life!? There was heavy symbolism in last nights episode, the whole thing with the creepy cat, Tony kept mentioning that the cat was catching rats in the basement and the cat kept staring at Christopher's picture did that mean that Christopher was a rat?! And when Tony first walked into the restaurant and the camera kept panning around and you saw that 70's looking teenage couple and the boyscout troop with the older man, was that supposed to be Tony at various times in his life when he was the most happiest?

And was that the one and only Donna Pescow playing Mrs. Parasi Sr.???

To tie up loose ends with the characters I thought of some ideas for Sopranos spin offs:


Paulie Walnuts retires from mob life to a small New England village were he runs the bait and tackle store with that creepy cat from last nights episode whose speaking voice only Paulie hears. Watch the hilarity that ensues between Paulie and that cat! Burt Reynolds voices the cat. And also watch for Tony, Sil and Vito's lover Jim stop by to visit Paulie!

Sil regains conscious and decides to renounce his former life as a made man and he becomes a made man of God, a priest who works with the cops to solve crimes and keep the young people out of trouble along with his spunky nun side kick, played by Melissa Gilbert. Stephen Baldwin plays Police Chief Lord and watch for a cameo from Willie Ames as the wise cracking janitor at the church!

Janice's son Harpo/Hal (played by Chad Michael Murray) finally comes to live with his mother, half sister, step brother and sister in Johnny Sack's old McMansion in New Jersey, a modern family for sure! Watch their antics!! Look for Carm, Tony, AJ, Patsy and Meadow to drop in! Matt Le Blanc reprises his Joey character....this time Joey is back from LA and is Janice's hunky boyfriend! Brian Atene plays wacky but wise next door neighbor Sam who gives Harpo/Hal advice through the back fence.

Meadow and Patsy Parasi Jr. marry and Patsy prosecutes his father and father in law in a bribe and fraud case and fearing the wrath of the family Meadow and Patsy join the witness protection program were they move to Ohio next door to a couple who has been married played by Brad Garett and Jolie Fisher who have been married for twenty years!

Carm divorces Tony and moves into one of her spec houses with Rosalie Aprielle only to find out that the house is haunted by the spirits of Adrianna, Ralphie, Christopher, Jackie Jr and Big Pussy. This time Adrianna is played by Tori Spelling, Ralphie by Antonio Sabato Jr. , Christopher by Sean William Scott, Jackie Jr. by Wilmer Valdarama and Big Pussy by Matthew Perry.

The Russian that never came out of the woods is found and becomes Rosie O' Donell's replacement on "The View".

I guess if it ended with Tony being taken out or arrested by the feds it would have been totally predicable!! And that is the genius of David Chase he doesn't wrap it up in a nice package! Plus he left everything wide open for a possible movie!

Yesterday I went back to Green-Wood Cemetery with my friend and guess what I forgot again....a camera! We went and explored the other side of the cemetery, we went up what is called Battle Hill which is a huge monument to all the people who fought in the various wars i.e. Revolutionary, Civil, World War 1, 2, Korean and Vietnam wars. There is the famous statue of Minerva with her arm extended at the top of the hill. When you sit at the top of this hill there is a beautiful view 360 view of the Manhattan. We didn't see any famous graves this time around, but what struck us both was there were about four huge fields which were called public lots and they had a variety of different tombstones, none as elaborate as some of the others in the cemetery. We thought maybe they may have been paupers graves or people who were moved by their families, it was really sad but interesting to look at some of these tombstones in these public fields. Next weekend a few friends of mine want to go and check out Green-Wood and this time I promise I will bring a camera to post some pictures!

Has anyone been reading up on these Al Gore/Live Earth Concerts?? From what I know is that they are supposed to be taking place at the same time all over the planet, one of the shows is supposed to be at the Meadowlands and one of my musical heroes Roger Waters is due to headline that show! There are about four people who I would want to see in these concerts one being Roger Waters, the others being Madonna, The Beastie Boys and The Smashing Pumpkins . The New York line up with the exception of Roger Waters and The Smashing Pumpkins sounds seriously hella lame! Bon Jovi, Kelly Clarkson (who I like, but I wouldn't spend money to see her live), Fall Out Boy, Melissa Ethridge, Akon (hopefully he won't throw Al Gore into the audience!), Ludacris and John Mayer. Heads will roll if Pete Wentz, John Mayer or Jon Bon Jovi do any Pink Floyd song with Roger or any Smashing Pumpkins song!!

Interesting Article and other things.......

Linked below is an interesting article from today's New York Post about Crash Management which is the management for bands such as Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco and the Academy is.. The article pretty much talks about how Crash is like a factory and how the business model is pretty much based on that of Lou Pearlman (the man behind the Backstreet Boys and N'Snych), Motown and the Brill Building. And the article pretty much compares the bands that Crash manages to the hair bands of the 80's i.e. Motley Crew and Posion and also to the Backstreet Boys with guitars comparisons that I think are pretty spot on. Something I didn't know is that Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy is doing A&R for them and Wentz sees himself as a rock version of Jay-Z, I guess that would explain the crass commercialism of his career. I love it how he compares himself to Bob Dylan in the article and how he thinks he'll get respect in 30 years time, that gave me a good morning laugh!! The other thing I didn't know was that Crash's offices are located on my block!!

I honestly think this article is pretty accurate with its comparisons, I'm no fan of the music that Crash puts out all though I will admit that I do like one song by Panic at the Disco and I do like that Gym Class Heroes song, I consider that music guilty pleasure pop music much like Fergie, The Black Eyed Peas and the Pussycat Dolls. I loathe Pete Wentz I think he is such an ass! He is the emo teen idol version of Brett Micheals from Poison, in ten years time he'll be on the Surreal Life 15 on Vh-1 trying to revive his career!

Much in the way that punk took over disco and art rock in the late 70's/ early 80's and grunge took over hair metal in the late 80's/ early 90's, I seriously wonder what is going to over take the emo pop teen idol movement?? Could it be Elvis Perkins and the Cold War Kids, could America be into something that is older, brilliant and sophisticated!!?? Could garage rock finally slaughter the emo pop teen idol movement, bands like the Star Spangles tried could it finally be garage rocks moment, if it is garage rock's moment to slaughter the bad my money is on NJ's own the Screaming Females, Marissa kicks ass! Who knows it will be very interesting to watch!!

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06062007/entertainment/music/teenage_tasteland_music_maureen_callahan.htm

Did anyone watch "America's Got Talent" last night?? I caught the last ten minutes of the show last night and couldn't turn away! It's like "The Gong Show" without the wackiness, humor and coked up host!! I guess the Simon Cowell wannabe dude Piers making seven year old children cry is supposed to be the comic relief!? Or is it supposed to be David Hasselhoff's comments?! All though I think The Hoff is following in Chuck Barris' footsteps by being pretty out of it! But what amazes me about this show is how many stage mothers parade their less then talented children out on stage in front of the cameras!! The show kinda reminds me of "The Gong Show" as if it were to air on the PAX channel and what is Sharon Osbourne doing on this show?? I really like her!

Lately I've been on a jag were I've been reading nothing but biographies about famous musicians or books about musical history. Today I picked myself up a copy of Frank Zappa's biography "The Real Frank Zappa Book" it was written by him in the late 1980's, I'm really looking forward to reading it. Usually with these books on music I can read them in two days, I have a hard time putting them down! One book that I can't wait for to come out is the new Pamela Des Barres book called "Let's Spend the Night Together", groupies discuss their one night stands with artists such as Elvis, Kurt Cobian, Mick Jagger and Courtney Love. The one thing that I like about Pamela Des Barres' books are that she doesn't make them out to be sleazy, there is an innocence to her books and her stories. The thing I like about her is that she was an innocent girl who loved music and was in the right place at the right time! Plus I think what the GTO's did rivals anything and is better then a lot of the stuff that people like Yoko Ono were doing and that first GTO's record is better then some of the stuff the girl groups at the time were putting out!! The early reviews that I have read on "Let's Spend the Night Together" are really good, I'll be the first on line to buy it in July when it is released!!

The Sopranos and Paul McCartney and Wings

Last night I watched the second to last episode of "The Sopranos" and all I could say is meh I kinda saw that coming.

If you haven't seen it just yet warning ***spoilers ahead***!!

I some how knew that Phil was going to declare war on Tony and his crew things were building up and and the whole CoCo (which was one of the nastiest things I ever saw) incident just pushed things over the edge.

What was surprising about the episode was Dr. Melfi's change of heart towards Tony. I thought for sure he would have been all in her face screaming at her, but I think he was just so shocked by her tone and what she said to him that he tried to analyze the situation rather then just react in a way he normally would.

I sorta knew one of the guys close to Tony would get offed, I didn't think it would be Bobby. That scene were Bobby got offed was really disturbing but very well done with the train.

My predictions for the season finale:

There is going to be some incident with Dr. Melfi either she is going to be the one who goes to the feds or she herself is in some sort of trouble.

I really think AJ or Meadow is going to get killed or AJ is going to witness their father kill someone.

It's hard to say with Sil, be I honestly think he is a goner.

Paulie I think is working with Phil's crew, cause he had this ominous look on his face as he was driving away with the Italians.

Hummmm we shall see next week I guess!

Okay continue to read!

Paul McCartney has finally added his solo back catalogue to itunes, growing up my mother was and still is a Beatles freak (which she turned me into) and Paul was and still is her favorite Beatle, she and my dad had to get married on March 12th just like Paul and Linda and she always thought it was so cool that Paul and Linda had three daughters and so did she! The only Beatles solo albums that were in the house were Paul McCartney and Wings! Every time my mom would clean the house she would always listen to "Venus and Mars" and "Band on the Run" and every car trip we'd have to listen to Paul McCartney's Greatest Hits and my mom would sing along at the top of her lungs to every song!! It's safe to say I think I know every song off of "Band on the Run", "Venus and Mars", "McCartney" and "Ram" by heart!! I can beat anyone in a Paul McCartney and Wings karaoke contest!!

As I got older and began to really get into music and really learn about music and began to listen to solo stuff by John Lennon and George Harrison I realized that Paul was the seriously corny Beatle!! Not to diminish Paul's talents, the man could write a beautiful ballad and a really great pop song and there would be either one or the other on one album. But most of his solo stuff to me really sounded and still sounds as if he wasn't really trying cause he is Paul McCartney!! But on Sir Macca's cheesiest, corniest day I bet he can still write a song that is better then half the music that is currently on the charts or popular *cough* Fall Out Boy!!

Anyway yesterday I downloaded some of my favorite Paul solo songs from itunes. The songs that I think are some of his best solo stuff and the ones that I downloaded are: "Too Many People" from "Ram", "HelenWheels", "Venus and Mars", "Band on the Run" and "Let me roll it to you" and "Mull of Kintyre", which is a Scottish folk tune that he translated very well.

He is also good when he collaborates with the right people. I can remember a few years ago he did some songs with Elvis Costello and I remember really liking those songs they were good basic Sir Macca pop songs, that sounded like the good basic pop songs he wrote when he was in the Beatles. The Michael Jackson collaborations were meh, "Say Say Say" was a pretty good song, but "The Girl is Mine" was pretty bad!! And that collaboration he did with Lincoln Park at the Grammys a few years ago was pretty lame! I know they were supposed to show the old and the new and the influence of Sir Macca on new music and I think he was trying to prove that he can still be hip with the young 'ens who may not know his music, but it just came across as seriously lame! I'm no Lincoln Park fan, their music is what I call angry frat boy rock and every time I hear their music I always think of that song by Ben Folds "Rockin' the Suburbs", I betcha it was Heather who talked him into doing a collaboration with Lincoln Park, she looks like a Lincoln Park fan!!

But bless him he is Paul McCartney and at this point he can do anything musically!! He still makes music people enjoy and he sells out arenas all over the world!!

Green-Wood Cemetery

The house that I grew up in on Long Island was in front of a cemetery and most often growing up I along with other family members would go for walks in the cemetery, we often found it to be very peaceful. And being the history geek that I'm I always found that graveyard behind my house to be a fascinating look at the history of the area that I grew up in, there is an area of that graveyard were the graves go back to the 1760's.

Yesterday I made a field trip out to Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. Green-Wood is a massive cemetery in between Park Slope, Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace that is the final resting place of many very well known New Yorkers among them Alice Lee Roosevelt (the first wife of US President Teddy Roosevelt), Louis Comfort Tiffany (jewelry designer and founder of Tiffany's), Jean-Michel Basquit (the artist from the 80's), Leonard Bernstein (composer of "West Side Story"), F.A.O Schwartz (the founder of the famous toy store) and Albert Anastasia (the famous mobster) and many other well known New Yorkers. The cemetery has been in existence since 1838 and was and still is a very popular tourist attraction. And the layout of the cemetery was said to inspire Fredrick Law Olmstead to design Central Park.

When you walk into the cemetery you pass through this massive goth like structure which houses the cemetery office and in this goth like structure there is a computerized database were you can look up were your loved one is buried. To the right of the offices is a whole field containing headstones of New Yorkers who fought in the Civil War. Once I checked out the civil war head stones I headed up a massive hill armed with only a map pin pointing were all the well known people are buried and my ipod, (I could have kicked myself for not buying a disposable camera!) as I came to rest at the top of this hill the top of this hill I looked out and saw the most spectacular views of Manhattan. I was standing in the family plot of two generations of a New York family who no doubt have the most unhindered beautiful, free view for all of eternity! As I headed down the hill I noticed some of the most ostentatious and elaborate headstones I have ever seen, rivaling those of the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs! One headstone that caught my eye was that of a young man killed during World War One who was a Yale graduate whose graduation year along with his Greek Letters were imprinted on his tomb stone. Another belonged to a man by the name of Grey whose tomb stone looked like something that you would see in Ireland but more flamboyant. The most elaborate was that of the mausoleum of The Steinway family who were famous for their pianos and of course Steinway Street in Astoria. The mausoleum was HUGE!! But what struck me was that mausoleum along with all the others that I saw (at one point they surround one of the lakes) have doors that are sealed up. My guess was that was to keep grave robbers out!

The only well known graves that I saw besides the Steinway family was that of Boss Tweed and Lola Montez. While that was interesting I was more fascinated by the ornate gravestones of some of the non famous people. I would like to go back because I feel like I only saw one half of it and when I do go back I promise that I will bring a camera!!

As I was walking along looking at these gravestones I really felt a peaceful feeling and I wasn't scared nor did I not feel unsafe I felt very much at peace.

When I do these urban explorations of historical sites I always find myself listening to Pink Floyd, as I was looking at the Civil War graves the opening of "Atom Heart Mother" began to play with the sound of cannon fire and horses and when I saw Boss Tweed's grave "Money" was playing and when I was at the top of that hill "Great Gig In the Sky" was playing!! It is true Roger Waters made it so Pink Floyd can go with any historical walk or any old time movie!!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green-Wood_Cemetery

http://www.green-wood.com/