Sunday, June 28, 2009

It's All Michael Jackson

Hello,

I haven't been able to think about much else since Thursday when I found out that Michael Jackson died suddenly. I realize the man had his flaws (don't we all?) but his musical genius cannot be disputed. (Who knows how much his flaws came from growing up in an abusive household. It probably didn't help that he was thrust into show business at the age of 4. His Dad makes David Archuleta's Dad look like a saint.) If you don't believe me read all the tributes people are writing to him. The B.E.T. awards has shifted from being an awards show to a Michael Jackson tribute. Both Usher and Justin Timberlake who hadn't planned to appear originally, were trying to catch flights to make it on time. Such artists as Beyonce were hoping to change their songs to honor Jackson. The producers also added a half-hour to the show to accommodate all the changes.

Newsweek magazine is the first magazine with a cover story about Michael Jackson's too early passing. I expect to see his picture on his cover of many upcoming magazines including EW, Rolling Stone and many other magazines. Jackson didn't just leave a musical legacy, he left a human legacy.

Today is the 26th anniversary of "Thriller" being released. Without a doubt this is one of the greatest CD's ever made. I listened to that CD in my car to and from work. I kept on listening to "Billie Jean" over and over again. That is just a perfect pop/rock song. The beat, the lyrics, the singing and the passion he sings the song with. Obviously there are other great songs on "Thriller" like the title track track, "Beat It" and "Wanna Be Startin' Something". There is also the beautiful song "Human Nature". The other song I really like is "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing"). I love the mellow opening and then how it explodes near the end of the song.

"Thriller" isn't his only great CD, "Bad" is also a classic CD. That CD features both "Bad" and "The Way You Make Me Feel". But the three songs that CD closes with are amazing. Those songs: "Dirty Diana", "Smooth Criminal" and "Leave Me Alone". Are you kidding me, the last three songs on that CD are fantastic. Most CD's now barely barely have two or three songs that are any good. Usually those songs are all at the beginning of the CD. However on "Thriller" those three songs are fantastic and are the last three songs on the CD.

I was one of those people who bought CDs following his too early death. I already had his most classic music, but I didn't have all his classic music. I ended up buying his 2001 CD "Dangerous". The most famous songs off that CD are "Remember The Time" and "Black or White". However there are many other excellent songs on it. Those songs include "Who Is It?", "Why You Wanna Trip On Me?", "Keep The Faith" and "Jam". It also features "Heal The World", an extremely beautiful song.

You can use Michael Jackson's music for almost anything from kicking somebody's butt to seducing a women. Obviously the man had experience with both.

To all the haters out there, please shut up! Let his family and fans mourn and remember the part of Michael Jackson that so many people love. Jesse Jackson please leave the Jackson family alone. You don't need to be their spokesman. Just because you have the same last name doesn't mean you are related. Jesse Jackson's "concern" is more about him than Michael's family.

Other signs of the love for Michael Jackson: A couple of days ago the Top 9 selling CDs on the iTunes chart were by Micheal Jackson. Also on amazon.com 40 of the Top 100 CDs were Micheal Jackson related. billboard.com is reporting that probably one of his greatest hits CDs is going to be the #1 CD on next week's chart.

Let's please respect his family's privacy in this time of mourning. Have a great week and be nice to all. themusicaddict

Friday, June 26, 2009

June 25th, 2009 A Day I'll Never Forget



Hello,

This video is for those of you who either missed this or were too young to watch it when it was originally performed. This was the performance that really brought Michael Jackson to the forefront of pop music. I remember watching this when I was in high school and being absolutely blown away. This is the first place where be broke out the moonwalk. Very few people can dance as well as Michael Jackson. He was the consummate showman.

I wasn't going to write a blog today until I heard the very sad news last night. As you know Micheal Jackson died yesterday at the age of 50. He died from cardiac arrest. Michael Jackson, one of the most amazingly talented musicians ever, started performing when he was 4.

Fox, one to never let good taste stand in the way of its greed, is re airing the Top 13 "American Idol" episode when it was the Michael Jackson theme. There were some pretty amazing performances that night notably by Alexis Grace, Adam Lambert and Megan Joy. I also liked Scott McIntyre's "Remember The Time" and Anoop Desai's "Beat It". Although that last performance was criticized by nearly everyone else.

Here's what I wrote March 11th, 2009 about that episode.
Some quick observations about last night's Top 13 episode. First of all thank goodness someone other than Adam, Lil or Danny had the pimp spot. Tonight it was Alexis and she rocked "Dirty Diana". I'm glad the performers are allowed to play instruments again, although only 3 of them played instruments. I wish we could see the band again. Why are they hidden?

Simon continues to be the only constantly insightful judge. Randy says a variation on about 3 or 4 themes for almost every contestant. Paula sometimes makes relevant comments, but she is so loopy. I think it has something to do with her makeup but Paula was looking very strange tonight. Sometimes that makes it hard to concentrate on what she is saying. At least she's better than Kara, her critiques of late have almost been completely worthless. She said to Danny Gokey you have "joy when you step on that stage". Thanks Kara, that was completely worthless. To Alexis she said, "glad to have you back". Where did she go? Again I hate this new format. With the producers fully hyping contestants, it's easy for good but quiet performers to get lost in the shuffle.

Tonight is the results show and either one or two contestants will be eliminated. It's a closely guarded secret. Simon said two people last night would be eliminated. However there are rumors that there may be some sort of veto the judges can use if a performer they like gets eliminated. For instance, if Danny Gokey gets eliminated tonight the judges can veto that and he'll stay on the show. Carrie Underwood will be singing goodbye to however many contestants go home tonight. We'll be hearing her remake of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home". I think "AI" is having her sing the farewell song so they can show how successful their show has been. I really only consider five "Idols" successful: Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson. Also Kelly Clarkson and Kanye West will also be singing on the show tonight.

Overall I thought that Michael Jackson was a good theme, in fact it's one of the best themes in "AI" history. Jackson, for all his freakishness, is a musical genius. I even liked some of his lesser or unknown songs last night. I would also love to see a Stevie Wonder theme night. Also have a theme night of a great rock band, for instance Def Leppard. I'd love to see Alexis Grace sing "Love Bites" or "Pour Some Sugar On Me". I'm laughing to myself, what would Danny Gokey sing in a Def Leppard week?

Here's a quick review of last night's performances, my grade and whether I'd buy the song on iTunes or not. Thanks again to mjsbigblog.com in that I can copy and paste her list.

1) Lil Rounds - “The Way You Make Me Feel”. She sang it well but what was with that hideous outfit she was wearing? She needs to wear something that flatters her figure better. The judges fawned over her as usual. She also is very telegenic. Grade: B There's no way I would buy this technically proficient but boring song choice.

2) Scott MacIntyre - “Keep the Faith”. When I first heard this I kept on thinking of the Billy Joel song, "Keeping The Faith. I really like MacIntyre and I'm glad he can play his piano again. This is a song I've never heard before. Simon told him being artistic is good but he shouldn't be "artistic on this show". Huh? Grade: B+. I'll definitely buy his performance as well as buy the Micheal Jackson original version.

3) Danny Gokey - “Pretty Young Thing” Thankfully he didn't go the inspirational song route. By the way this is a great, great song and he did a great job singing it. I'm still conflicted about him though. I still get sort of a David Archuleta feeling from him. However he is a much better singer, performer and has considerable more stage presence. Grade: A-. I'll buy this performance.

4) Michael Sarver - “You Are Not Alone” I thought he gave a pretty solid performance. (This is the sort of song I thought Danny Gokey would sing.) Although I thought he sung it well, he's already lost in the shuffle. My prediction is in a few weeks Sarver, Kris Allen and Matt Giraud will barely be remembered. I don't hate any of them they're just sort of bland. Technically pretty good but not someone I would be inspired enough to call and keep them on the show. Grade: C. I wouldn't buy this performance.

5) Jasmine Murray - “I’ll Be There” I disagreed a lot with the judges tonight, including on her performance. She did a great job singing that song and sounded fantastic. The judges were lukewarm on her though. On ew.com's "AI" predicting who is going home contest, my choice is her. Also Michael Slezak and the majority of voters thinks she's going home as well. It's not that I hate her, it's I don't think she has that big of a voting bloc behind her. I'd rather see her week after week though than most of the guys. Grade: B. It's a toss up on whether I'd buy this performance.

6) Kris Allen - “Remember the Time” A very boring song choice. Again bland and utterly forgettable. A good voice although his guitar playing brought nothing to his performance tonight. He might survive for 2 or 3 weeks, but I can't see him going further than that. Grade C-. Am I going to buy this song? Hell no!

7) Allison Iraheta - “Give in to Me” I was a little disappointed with this song, mostly because of the lamented dread song choice. I love her voice and I liked her performance. It did feel like it ran on a bit too long. She should have sang "Bad" or one of Michael's rock songs. Overall I really like her, this was just not my favorite performance. Grade: B-, mainly because of the song choice. Buy? probably not.

8) Anoop Desai - “Beat It” This is the performance I disagree with the judges the most on. I like his new haircut, he sort of sounded like Michael Jackson. He's also think he's a natural performer. I still like him, but he's starting to lose his front runner status quickly. Grade: A and I'm definitely going to buy this song.

9) Jorge Nunez - “Never Can Say Goodbye” Why, why, why did he pick this song? I thought this was the worst song choice of the night. He's been dreadful the last couple of weeks and this is someone who can be very good. However I'm going to start calling him No Way Jorge. If he keeps on going with these middling performances, there is no way he's going to win. Kara had one of her only relevant critiques of tonight when she suggested that he should have sang "She's Out of My Life". That definitely would have been much better. If tonight is a double elimination he could be gone as well. Grade D- and there's no way I'll ever buy this performance.

10) Megan Joy Corkrey - “Rockin’ Robin” Another weird song choice, but somehow she pulled it off. Megan please pick a much more contemporary song next week. She's very telegenic and by far the best looking woman remaining on the show. She's not getting enough love from the judges. Grade: B and I'm definitely buying this performance.

11) Adam Lambert - “Black and White” Although he struts too much, this is a much better performance than than his terrible performance of "Satisfaction". I love how Paula stated that he and Danny Gokey will probably make the finals. Grade: B+ and I'll probably buy this performance.

12) Matt Giraud - “Human Nature” Another one of the men who are getting lost in the shuffle. He brought a bit of funk to his performance, but overall his performance was only okay. Grade: C and I won't be buying this performance.

13) Alexis Grace - “Dirty Diana” I thought she was fantastic. She had a little bit of a Madonna look tonight. Grade A-. I love her bluesy vibe and she has made a lot of great song choices. She should help some of the other contestants. Not only am I going to buy this performance, this will be the first performance I buy.


Also after taking Rolling Stone to task for some of their less than inspiring covers of late, I know who is going to be on their next cover. It's going to be Michael Jackson and I couldn't agree more. They have plenty of time to put together this issue and this should be a classic issue.

All morning I have been listening to Michael Jackson music and enjoying his excellent catalog of music he left behind. The man is a musical genius and he wrote some of the greatest songs of all-time. This is the man that either wrote or brought to our attention "Billie Jean", "Bad", "Smooth Criminal", Dirty Diana", "Black or White", "Thriller", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "She's Out Of My Life", "Beat It", "Human Nature" and "Pretty Young Thing".

Unfortunately the man later in his life turned into a freak and became a parody of himself. I acknowledge that and recognize he did some really bad things. However my sadness comes from the fact that a true musical genius died. In an age where people call that lame dude from One Republic a musical genius, this makes it even more sad.

Michael Jackson r.i.p.

themusicaddict

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Hello,

I'd like to thank kizgold for reading my blog and for leaving a comment. She posted this comment on my blog yesterday.

"Ok I'm partial bc I am a Kris Allen fan.. and no I do not think at this time he deserves a RS cover. It should absolutely be for more established artists. But at least he is a real musician who has gained raves while working with great writers such as Joe of the Fray and Claude Kelly. You don;t have to get him but lets please not put him in teen Beat just yet."

kizgold I have nothing against Kris Allen, he just doesn't excite me much. I never understood why so many people like him. Okay, I won't put him in the Teen Beat demographic, he's probably too old. Also he's married which definitely pushes him out of that demographic. My main point kizgold is that I wish Rolling Stone would have more established artists on it's cover. People like U2, Bruce Springsteen and I was even okay with Taylor Swift. She's released two wildly successful CDs. However Adam Lambert, other than the lost recordings and "AI", hasn't even released a single. Putting him on the cover of any magazine is probably a tad bit premature. Thanks again for the comment kizgold!

I love comments and please comment even if you don't agree with me. A good discussion is always worthwhile.

On to other news: I had the misfortune of watching "Confessions of a Shopaholic" last night. This movie stars the gorgeous Isla Fisher. (I always am amused when I see her as she's currently dating Sacha Baron Cohen aka Borat or Bruno.) Other than her lovely face, there's not much to recommend this movie for the male audience. Basically if you are a guy, skip this movie. This is the kind of chick flick where you should go watch a movie where a lot of people die to bring one's masculinity ratio back into alignment.

In the he said/ she said battle between the Black Eyed Peas' tour manager and Perez Hilton I vote for the tour manager. I should support my fellow bloggers but Perez Hilton makes me nauseous. His blog is lame and vicious. Also in entertainment value the Black Eyed Peas rule over Hilton any day. Perez please go away.

With some extra money I've had lately I bought the Decemberists "The Crane Wife" MP3 CD from amazon.com. They were running one of their specials and it only cost me $5. I'll admit that it took a few listens before I truly appreciated how good this CD is. I love the Decemberists, they have a lot of catchy songs. They are masters of writing great pop songs. I give this CD a B grade and highly recommend you go and buy it.

My latest CD rocking my car to and from work is Motley Crue's most recent CD, "Saints of Los Angeles". This CD is almost as good as classic Motley Crue. It has such great songs as the title track, "Dirt In Your Face" and "This Ain't A Love Song". That last song is R rated so be careful. I give this CD a B grade as well and themusicaddict strongly suggests you buy it. Also Motley Crue is on tour this summer. They are on their second annual Cruefest tour. I'd love to go see this tour and take my oldest boy. Of course I would also love to go to the Def Leppard/Poison/Cheap Trick tour. Unfortunately concerts take two things I don't have a lot of: money and time. Check them out for me and I will post your review on my blog. Of course I'll give you full credit.

Happy 25th birthday to the "Purple Rain" soundtrack. It was released 25 years ago today. Finally an amazing thing happened last night. After watching the movie last night, I found time to read. I started reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. I had read the beginning a few years ago and was fond of it. For some reason I didn't read anymore. I was looking through my books and this one caught my interest. Also it has been made into a movie starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. I would have posted the trailer on my blog but it has been "disabled by request". You can check it out at apple.com and youtube. The movie is out August 14th, but the book is out now. Check it out. Rarely is the movie as good as the book.

Have a great day and may your NBA team draft the right player tonight. themusicaddict

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Miscellaneous

Hello,

Last night I was able to watch the first three episodes of Season One of "Mad Men". I didn't discover this show until Season Two, so there's a lot I don't know about concerning the story. Last night episodes started filling in some of the blanks. Things are starting to become a lot clearer. "Mad Men" is such a great show. Blockbuster has the DVDs for Season One, each DVD contains 3 episodes. By the way Season Three of "Mad Men" begins this August on AMC.

In my driving to and from work I've been listening to a couple of excellent CD's the last few days. First I listened to Prince's "Purple Rain", this is as great of a CD as I remember. Too bad that CD was his peak as an artist, but what a peak it was. I remember back in the day I could not wait until the followup to that CD came out. That was one of the biggest disappointments for me. The follow up CD was "Around The World In A Day". Overall its disappointing but it still had a couple of good songs on it, "Pop Life" and "Raspberry Beret".

I also have been enjoying the White Stripes "White Blood Cells". This fantastic CD has 16 blasts of elemental rock. This CD was my first exposure to the White Stripes and I instantly became a life long fan. This is just a fantastic CD.

Speaking of "Purple Rain", can you believe it's already the 25th anniversary of that seminal CD and movie? The "Purple Rain" movie was released on July 27th, 1984. To honor that Spin has a big article about that movie in it's July issue. They also had 9 musicians cover all the classic songs from that CD. For the most part they are pretty janky covers.

For instance, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings take on "Take Me With You" takes all the firepower out of that song. They reduce that track to a very mediocre song. Frankly it sounds more like a Sharon Jones original than the Prince classic. The other covers are pretty forgettable. What I recommend is that you get it, it's free. You can always delete any songs you don't want. But without a doubt get Prince's original. "Purple Rain" is probably one of the Top 10 CD's of the 80's.

Also at wearethefallen.com you can now download the new single from the band The Fallen. They are the result of the joining of most members of early Evanescence and the powerhouse singer Carly Smithson. The name of the song is "Bury Me Alive" and it sounds a lot like Evanescence. Carly Smithson fills in well for Amy Lee. If that's what they want to do, that is fine with me. They sound pretty good so far and that's a very cool song. I'm on their e-mail list so as they keep me up to date, I'll keep you up to date. Or you can go to wearethefallen.com. Their full website isn't launched yet though.

The new Rolling Stone cover is out and the cover story is about The Jonas Brothers. What the hell? Adam Lambert and then The Jonas Brothers? If the next cover features Danny Gokey or Kris Allen I'm going to have to consider cancelling my subscription. I subscribed to Rolling Stone, not Teen Beat. Before the Adam Lambert cover, the cover story was about Lady Gaga. That's three janky covers in a row.

The 2009 covers and a grade for the coolness and musical ability of each.
The Jonas Brothers- C, they do have some good songs.
Adam Lambert- D an over hyped musician that I'm already sick of hearing about.
Lady Gaga- C- She does some things that are musically interesting.
Green Day- A They're last two CDs have been fantastic. Check out the song "21 Guns", it's also on the "Transformers 2" soundtrack.
Bob Dylan- D A music dinosaur that Rolling Stone reports on way too much.
Kings of Leon- D Yawn!
Lil Wayne- F Another lame rapper.
The Gossip Girls- F two non-singers from a derivative TV show.
U2- B A band mostly living on their past glories.
Taylor Swift- A Someone who is musically relevant thankfully. One of the great upcoming artists and should be a bright hope for the future.
Sean Penn- B Granted he's not a musician, but one of the most relevant filmmakers currently working.
Bruce Springsteen B+ Still a cultural superstar who is leaving his footprint all over the musical world.
George W. Bush F, I'm trying to forget they cluttered their magazine with his picture.

I recently bought Paramore's first CD "All We Know Is Falling". It's a pretty good CD, they are a pretty good band. I'm looking forward to their third CD coming out this fall. There's still no word on when that CD is coming out. Hayley Williams did tell me and 10,000 of my closest friends that it will be out this fall though. That was when we saw them in concert.

Songs rockin' my iPod 1) "Summer '79"- The Ataris 2) "Clumsy"- Fergie 3) "Radio Song"- R.E.M. and KRS-One 4) "Dirty Denim"- The Donnas One of the most underrated bands currently active. 5) "Hot For Teacher"- Van Halen 6) "Fighter"- Christina Aguilera 7) "Change"- Tears For Fears 8) "Bullet the Blue Sky" (Live) - U2 9) "Gives You Hell"- All-American Rejects 10) "Dirty Diana"- Alexis Grace 11) "When Smokey Sings"- ABC 12) "Be Near Me"- ABC 13) "High"- Madonna and Antonio Banderas from the "Evita" soundtrack. 14) "Last Resort"- Papa Roach 15) "Heartless"- Kris Allen This was his only performance I really liked, but this is an amazing performance. 16) "ABC"- The Pipettes.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow, have a great day themusicaddict

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Hello,

Carly Smithson is coming out of her post-Idol hibernation finally. She has teamed with 3 of the 4 original members of Evanescence, not including Amy Lee of course. They've joined together to form a new band called The Fallen. The Fallen will release a free song through their website tomorrow. Their website address is wearethefallen.com. I went to that site and it doesn't launch until Monday at 3:00pm EST. I'm excited about this as Smithson was one of my favorite contestants ever on "AI". I felt she wasn't given a fair chance during Season 7. I'm glad she's doing something rock because she sings so powerfully.

Other free music news sort of. On June 23rd, Tuesday, you can download the "Purple Rain" tribute soundtrack as sung by other performers. These performers include Of Montreal, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and Lavender Diamond. Spin has a preview of "When Doves Cry" as sung by The Twilight Singers that available right now. That's one of the greatest songs of all-time. The Twilight Singers version is also pretty cool. I'm going to download it on Tuesday. Of course to take advantage of this, you need to subscribe or buy a copy of the July 2009 issue of Spin magazine. There will be a review forthcoming.

With about 1.5 hours of driving to and from work everyday I have been working through all my CD's. After my love of Fergie's "The Dutchess" I was expecting more of the same from Gwen Stefani's "Love.Angel.Music.Baby." However I was extremely disappointed. There were a couple of good songs on it but unfortunately there is a lot of crap on it as well. Gwen please stay with No Doubt.

I also listened to the "Evita" soundtrack featuring Madonna. I love this double CD, it has so many great songs on it. Although after a rousing "And The Money Keeps Rolling In (And Out)" the rest of the CD is not very good. For the first 22 songs of this CD, it's a 5 star CD. Yesterday I listened to the Guns N' Roses classic "Appetite For Destruction". I don't know what it was but I was just not feeling that CD yesterday. Although I still love the back to back shotgun blasts of "Mr. Brownstone" and "Paradise City". I think I'm going to listen to Prince's "Purple Rain" today.

That's it for now. I just wanted to write a quick blog, I unfortnately don't have much time. themusicaddict

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Hello,

Sports usually serves as a diversion from reality, especially in these times when the economy is so bad. However sports and our sports heroes are subject to the same human frailties we all are. I was saddened to learn that BYU Head Basketball Coach, Dave Rose, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Both Steve Jobs and Randy Pausch, writer of "The Last Lecture" also have battled pancreatic cancer. (In fact in January, '09 doctors were worried that Jobs cancer reoccured.) Apparantally there are two main types of pancreatic cancer, both Steve Jobs and Dave Rose has the least dangerous type. One oncologist says that about 85% of those who have the same kind of pancreatic cancer Dave Rose has will still be alive in 5 years. My prayers go out to you and your family Dave Rose.

I'm going to post the following from sltrib.com without further comment:
The father of Utah singing hero and "American Idol" star David Archuleta pleaded no contest in January to patronizing a prostitute. Midvale police cited 47-year-old James J. Archuleta on Jan. 14 at a massage parlor called Queens Reiki, 7350 S. State Street, said Sgt. John Salazar.

Police had been investigating the business for several days after patients at a nearby doctor's office complained, Salazar said. The business was cited for operating without a license and Archuleta was given a citation for solicitation of prostitution "because he was sexually gratified by one of the masseuse girls," Salazar said. The masseuse was also cited.

Midvale Justice Court records show that Archuleta took a no contest plea in abeyance on Jan. 30. He paid a $582 court fee and completed a counseling class. The case will be dismissed at the end of the month if he doesn't repeat the crime.

Archuleta was the American Idol runner-up in 2008.

Jason Bergreen (sltrib.com reporter)

Last night my beautiful wife and I watched "Twilight", the movie based on Stephenie Meyer's excellent vampire novel. For me that was a major disappointment. I was very disappointed by the glacially slow pace. The heart of the story was there but the story was not told very well. Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who play Bella and Edward in the movie, are pale imitations of those same characters in the book. The director, Catherine Hardwicke, is not directing the second in the series "New Moon", which I think is a good idea. She was way out of her league in trying to direct this movie. My wife, who hasn't read the books, thought the movie was fine. However I don't see how anyone who read the books could like this movie. I'm giving this movie a generous D grade. (To completely simulate how glacially paced the movie "Twilight" is, take a half-hour to read this one paragraph.)

One final note: I keep on hearing good things about the pop/soul singer Adele and her debut CD, "19". I checked it out this morning via amazon.com and I was not impressed. I thought it was rather generic pop/rock music. I've heard a lot of good things about Adele, but I don't understand all the praise.

I'm back to work for the next five days. Have a great week, themusicaddict

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Hello,

I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday. I went to the gym and also my wife and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. Our anniversary date is actually on June 11th but we were both working that day. We waited until my first day off which was yesterday. We went and ate at Applebees and then watched a couple of videos last night. It was a pleasant night.

The first video we watched was "Gran Torino" starring the incomparable Clint Eastwood. What a great acting and directing performance turned in again by Eastwood. You'll definitely want to see this movie as this may be his last acting role ever! I'm hoping not, I hope he has another 20 good years left in his amazing career.

The second movie we watched was "Little Miss Sunshine" starring a very subdued Steve Carrell and Greg Kinnear. This show had some good laughs, but overall a very strange movie. I would give it about a C grade, it's definitely a video movie.

Last night was the CMT awards. I didn't watch any of it until this morning. Thanks to youtube.com I watched the skit where Taylor Swift "rapped" with T Pain. I also enjoyed the Def Leppard/ Taylor Swift performance of "Pour Some Sugar On Me". That apparently closed the show. That was a bit concerting, but it's good seeing all the musical genres beginning to merge. Why do we have to have all these barriers between different types of music? Why can't we just love any sort of music without labeling it.

That is one of the worst aspects of corporate America music companies is their desperate need to label music. corporate America should not run artistic companies, corporate America takes the soul out of whatever it touches. Some music just naturally form into genres and that's fine. However with so much crossover between musicians now why continue to label songs that don't naturally fall into a specific genre? Who would ever saw the day where Def Leppard and T Pain would appear on the CMTs.

Right now it seems to be a slow time in the music world, but you can be assured that themusicaddict is keeping his eye on it for you. themusicaddict

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Fergie Rules!

Hello,

Over the last couple of days while driving around I have been listening to Fergie's excellent CD, "The Dutchess" This is just a great CD. Although Fergie is the singer this really is a Black Eyed Peas CD as well. will.i.am is the producer on the CD. He also sings/ raps on some of the songs. He plays many of the instruments and even does some of the drum programming. Fergie, Stacey Ferguson, isn't just the face on the CD. Along with singing she helped co-write several of the songs. She co-wrote several of those songs with Will Adams, aka will.i.am.

I know this CD has been out for awhile, it was released September 19, 2006. Here's a song by song review anyway. This is definitely a CD you need to add to your collection. Fergie has such an amazing voice and she uses it to full advantage on this CD. I have added some of my favorite lyrics, they are in quotation marks.

1) "Fergalicious" The CD starts out with the hot slab of dance music "Fergalicious". This is a song featured in "17 Again". It's incredibly catchy and is fun to sing along with. One of the many upbeat, uplifting songs on the CD. "D to the E to the L-I-C-I-O-U-S". That is just so much fun to sing along with.

2) "Clumsy" "She can't help it*The Girl Can't Help It". Another incredibly catchy song. How many current CDs start off with two great songs?

3) While this CD has great dance songs, Fergie slows it down a few times, including on the third song "All That I Got (The Make Up Song). This is a very tender love song. "Would u love me*If I didn't work out*Or I didn't change my natural hair*I could be the one you grow old with baby*I'll give you all I got."

4) "London Bridge" Another dance worthy track. "How come every time you come around My London, London Bridge want to go down?" So far four songs and all four songs are excellent. One of the few bad things about this CD is the lame skit attached on the end of this song. I fast forward through it everytime.

5) "The Pedestal" A mid-tempo track one just listens to and relaxes, another great song. "Who are you*and what do you do*to make you think you are above me. But have you walked in my shoes*The pedestal you put yourself on."

6) "Voodoo Doll" Another upbeat, dance song. This is the kind of song that makes one feel good. "This body's a temple of doom."

7) "Glamorous" Another spelling song co-written by Fergie and will-i-am and others. This song was recently sung on the "AI" Season Finale by the ladies of the Top 13. "So if you ain't got no money, take your broke --- home." and "My Daddy told me so, he let his daughter know."

8) "Here I Come" A song that samples the excellent Temptations song "Get Ready". Fergie and Will-i-am update it and give it a modern day sheen. "In any minute I'll be rollin' through*So get ready, so get ready".

9) "Velvet" Here comes another slow jam. This is a good, not great, song. "Under Velvet skies*Lover we can fly away from the world".

10) "Big Girls Don't Cry". Another tender ballad about relationships. "I hope you know*I hope you know*That this nothing to do with you*It's personal*Myself and I*We got some straightening out to do."

11) "Mary Jane Shoes" Another mid-tempo song at the beginning but then kicks up the energy a notch at the end of the song. "When I wear my Mary Jane shoes*I enjoy 2 spin the ones and twos".

12) Losing My Ground" Where do I go?*What do I do?*Who do I turn to?*I'm losing my ground". Another mid-tempo song, it fits the mood of America's current financial strain.

13) "Finally"/"Maybe We Could Take A Really Long Ride" (hidden track). This is another personal song, another tender song. This CD is so good. "Finally now my destiny can begin*Though we will have our differences*Something strange and new is happening*Finally now my life doesn't seem so bad*It's the best I've ever had*Give my love to him finally*Finally, finally". The hidden track is just a little piece of fluff added on. The piano and Fergie's voice underlie the hidden track.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I love this CD. themusicaddict gives this CD 5 out of 5 stars. Pick it up when you can, you won't be disappointed.

I only have two more of the seven straight days to work. Then on Tuesday my wife and I are going to go celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. I should be writing Tuesday again though. Have a great week, themusicaddict

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Third Eye Blind follow up.

Hello,

I recently posted about the band Third Eye Blind and wondered where they went, apparently they didn't go anywhere. Thanks to a person who commented on my blog, I found out that Third Eye Blind has a new CD coming out on August 18th. According to their Wikipedia website the name of the new CD is "Ursa Major". The first single is titled "Don't Believe A Word" and was released on June 5th.

I also received a comment about about how great I think Jennifer Nettles is. Jennifer Nettles is the main vocalist for the great country band Sugarland. This person said that the best current country singer is Jamey Johnson. I have heard many positive things about his recent CD, "That Lonesome Song".

Things are going good at VZW, today we graduated from training. We are now entering an 11 week program called transition. We also had to turn our loaner phones back in today. The two mobile blogs I wrote yesterday will be my last until I'm able to afford a cell phone. That will probably be awhile. It's true I work for a cell phone company and I can't afford a cell phone. The main reason is we have a humongous house payment.

15 years ago today my wife and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple on a hot, summer day. I would just like to thank her for being such a great wife all these years.

I'm not sure when I'll be back. My training group are moving to this new transition program. In order to sync to that schedule we have to work 7 straight days. Today we completed the third of that seven day period. The next four days will be busy, but I'm going to try and write a couple of blogs in that time. My schedule is moving from mornings to evenings. We're now only going to have a half-hour lunch. With that and missing rush hour traffic I'll actually have more time now. I'm pretty excited about that.

Have a great weekend, themusicaddict

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

So what are you doing this summer? This is the time of the year for concert tours. A great time for some beach reading. The only good thing on TV is "Mad Men".
What a waste of a cover for Rolling Stone. Who's next? Danny Gokey, David Archuleta or how about Jon and Kate plus 8? Rolling Stone please musicians who rawk.

Monday, June 8, 2009

All-American Rejects, Chickenfoot

Hello,

Here's the promised blog entry, I apologize in advance as it's going to be short. I've been listening to the All American Rejects "When The World Comes Down" CD lately. I bought it mainly because I have some money now and I have heard a lot of good things about this CD. It's as good as I've heard. I really love the song "Gives You Hell", that is an incredibly catchy song.

With amazon.com selling the new Chickenfoot CD for only $4 I bought that too. It's alright, it sounds a lot like Sammy Hagar and Van Hagar. Yes, Sammy Hagar is the lead singer but still it could be less derivative.

I also watched "Yes Man" starring Jim Carrey tonight. It also stars Zooey Deschanel, who is in the real life band She and Him. In the movie she's in the band Munchasen By Proxy, they are a very interesting band. She also was in "Bridge To Terabithia" in which she plays a singing, guitar playing teacher. She has floated the idea she might quit acting to chase after her music career. I think she would be successful either way. The Him is M. Ward, you may have heard of him before. The movie is pretty good and has a lot of funny parts. I'm not a big Jim Carrey fan but I thought he did a good job in this movie.

I liked how they worked the Third Eye Blind song "Jumper" into the movie. That's a great song from a great CD, the self-titled "Third Eye Blind". That was one of the best CDs released in 1997. That CD also features the extremely catchy "Semi-Charmed Life". Whatever happened to them, I was actually rocking out to that CD a few weeks ago. It's a great CD, I'm actually going to do some research on them to figure out where they went.

The CD currently playing in my car is Sugarland's "Love On The Inside". That is a great CD and if they aren't the best country band going now, I don't know who is. I love Jennifer Nettles voice. It helps her sing those sad songs so well. She was born to sing those sad country songs. Their best example of that is the excellent song "Stay".

That's it for now. I have to go to bed soon as I'm looking down the barrel of working 7 straight days. themusicaddict

Friday, June 5, 2009

Hello,

Whitney Houston is releasing her new CD on September 1st. She made it with the help of some rappers, which I always hate. I hate that because the CD then seems to be more about the rappers to improve sales. When Whitney Houston makes a CD, the focus should be on her. She use to be one of the greatest singers of all-time and I'm hoping she still is. I'm doubtful if the 45 year old diva still has it. I hope she does, it would be great to have new Whitney Houston music playing on the radio. Please focus on her great vocals over anything else.

Sorry my blogs have been sparse lately, my schedule has been busy and it's going to be busier next week. At VZW my training group is shifting out of training to actually taking calls. That means our schedules are shifting, the result of that shifting is we are working 7 straight days. I have today and tomorrow off, we'll then work 7 straight days. As part of the training we were given Blackberry Curves to use so we'll be better at our job. We have to give those phones back Tuesday. Unfortunately even though I work for a cell phone company, I can't afford a cell phone. That means there won't be any more mobile blogs either.

I usually get my digital music from Apple iTunes. However I've had so many problems downloading music that I'm now buying my digital music from amazon.com. I bought the new Chickenfoot MP3 CD last night for only $4. That's a pretty sweet deal. In case you don't know Chickenfoot is the new Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Joe Satriani supergroup. I also bought the deluxe edition of the All-American Rejects "When The World Comes Down". That's a pretty darn good CD.

amazon.com also has a MP3 CD deal each day. Yesterday you could buy a James Taylor MP3 CD for 99 cents. Today you can buy a Vince Guaraldi MP3 CD. For those who don't know he's the one who composes music for the Charlie Brown TV shows. These deals are so good they only last one day. I also checked out upcoming CD's and it looks like the best week for new music this summer is July 14th. There will be excellent new CDs released that day. These CDs include Pearl Jam's "The Lowdown", Daughtry's "Leave This Town" and Jack White's new band, The Dead Weather. The Dead Weather's CD is "Horehound". For those who don't know Jack White has two other bands. His most famous band is the White Stripes. He also has released two CDs with the Raconteurs and this is his new band The Dead Weather. The Rolling Stones also issue a bunch of remasted classic CDs that day. Finally, "American Idol" Season Six winner Jordin Sparks is releasing "Battlefield". The first single is "Battlefield", that's a pretty cool song.

Other news: to celebrate my wife's birthday we watched "The Express" last night. (We don't have a lot of money so we have to keep our celebrations cheap.) It was a pretty good movie, but also very sad. Not only because Ernie Davis died at the age of 23 but also because of all of the stupid racial discrimination that was going at that time. It's hard to believe people can be so cruel to each other over such stupid reasons. I think slowly but surely America is overcoming that, although we still have a long ways to go.

Before working 7 straight days, I have a lot to do tomorrow. However I will still be writing a blog tomorrow. Although I can't guarantee it will be very long. I know I owe you a Green Day "21st Century Breakdown" review.

Have a great week, themusicaddict

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Disappointing Greatest Hits CD's: Queen's Greatest Hits 1. There is only one of their true classics on it. Poison's GH is a disappointment. Only 5 or 6 "GHits".

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The joy of a great song. While I was driving to work I was listening to Queensryche's "Empire". That song kicks butt and I love the pure joy of the guitar solo.

Monday, June 1, 2009

No Doubt and Paramore rock the E Center

Hello,

As promised here's my review of the fantastic concert my oldest son and I went to. For my boys 13th birthday we saw No Doubt in concert on Memorial Day. This was his first concert and he enjoyed it. This was probably one of the best concerts he could have seen who is currently touring. There are few things as good as a great rock concert. This was even better because there were two great bands playing all their great songs.

The first band that played was the Sounds. They are a 5 piece band from Sweden led by singer Maja Ivarsson. They have a new CD coming out tomorrow, it's called "Crossing The Rubicon". This is a band I know very little about, but I enjoyed their short energetic set. I would have even enjoyed it more if I actually knew their songs! They do have a myspace.com page of course and you can listen to their entire new CD there. It's good enough to be worthy of your time.

I don't know the name of any of their songs so what I put in quotes is a guessed at title based on the lyrics that I could understand. The concert was suppose to start right at 7:30 and they took the stage a couple of minutes later and played a 6 song set. (I'm currently listening to their music on their myspace music page. They rawk!) I would describe their sound as 80's New Wave/ synth pop influenced music that has a rock edge. They're sort of a much more rocking version of Human League or Berlin. (I don't even know if they are old enough to be influenced by 80's music.)

They started off their 30 minute set with a song that might be titled "Tomorrow". Like all of their songs from this concert, this song rocked. Next they sang the song "Dorchester Hotel" which contains the refrain "Hearts Stranger Stranger". That led into "Matter of Trust For Us" which led to "Beatbox". That song features the refrain "turn it up, break it down". They then sang "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake". I know this is the actual title thanking to listening to songs on their myspace music page. FYI: I had written down the title as "Standing In The Shadows". This is also the first song off their new CD, a very good rocking song. They closed out their six song set with a really rocking song that I couldn't even guess at the title.

The Sounds Setlist:
1) "Tomorrow" (possible title)
2) "Dorchester Hotel" includes the refrain "hearts stranger stranger"
3) "Matter of Trust For Us" (possible title)
4) "Beatbox" features the refrain "turn it up, break it down"
5) "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" which features the refrain "standing in the shadows"
6) A really rocking song that I couldn't pick out enough words to even guess at a title.

Taking the stage only 15 minutes later was Paramore who put on a kick butt 11 song set. They have a new CD coming out this fall tentatively, they played a couple of their new songs in their set. I love Paramore but I couldn't tell you the name of all their songs. So setlist.fm helped me with the titles. That is a pretty cool website, check it out some time.

Hailey Williams led the band through their 11 song set. She was dancing around and rocking along with the excellent musicians in the band. I was worried that Williams might not have a strong enough voice in a concert setting. No need for me to worry, her voice sounded clear and strong throughout their whole set. Although to pep up the crowd she said "Salt Lake" too many times. That would be my biggest complaint. She said she grew up on "Salt Lake Punk".

Paramore didn't mess around, their first song was "Misery Business" which is one of their best and most rocking songs. They followed that up with "For A Pessimist I'm Pretty Optimistic". Their fourth song was one of their new songs from their upcoming CD, the song is titled "Ignorance". Their new music rocks as hard as anything on "Riot".

They kept up the momentum with "CrushCrushCrush" which includes the refrain "Rock and Roll" which takes an already great song to another level. Their next few songs were "Decoy", "When It Rains" and another new song "Where The Lines Overlap". That led into another highlight of the night in "That's What You Get". They closed out their set with "Let The Flames Begin". Then they sang one of their songs from "Twilight". the mellow rocker "Decode". The excellent Paramore left the stage with the audience buzzing and satisfied. Williams said they would see us in the fall, maybe they'll be headlining their own tour then.

Paramore's set list:

1) "Misery Business" ("I'll wear the biggest smile")
2) "For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic" ("can't run away")
3) "Pressure" ("feel the ....")
4) "Ignorance" ("best be on my way") This is a new song.
5) "CrushCrushCrush" ("I've got a lot to say to you")
6) "Decoy" ("my little teacher")
7) "When It Rains" ("how could you do this?")
8) "Where The Lines Overlap" This is a new song.
9) "That's What You Get"
10) "Let The Flames Begin"
11) "Decode" ("how did we get here?")

After waiting 35 minutes No Doubt took the stage for their 90 minute, 19 song set. No Doubt had a cool idea when you bought their tickets, you receive a link to their complete music catalog. That included all their old stuff up to their new song, "Stand And Deliver". That is a very cool idea. When No Doubt was starting out, let's put it nicely they were raw. It sounded like they didn't know what their identity was or even what kind of music they wanted to make etc. Their early songs are a lot of generic ska.

However by the time they got to "Tragic Kingdom" they had lifted their game to a new level. That's when they had figured out who they were and their music became a lot more mature. That's when they took off with such classic songs as "Just A Girl" and "Don't Speak" etc. Their next CD continued their upward trend. They then made their best CD "Rock Steady". The Jamaican influenced CD featured such great songs as "Hey Baby" and "Hello Good". They took a 5 year break as Stefani tried to get solo glory with some success. No Doubt decided to reform and they are touring to try and gain some inspiration for their next CD. I'm eagerly waiting for it, it's due in 2010.

Anyway on to their kick butt set list. They started off their portion of the concert with the excellent "Spiderwebs" and went right into "Hella Good". They then slowed it down for "Underneath It All" (a song that Jon and Kate might want to listen to to get some good feeling going for each other) and then sang "Excuse Me Mister". Stefani strolls the stage as a lioness crossing the African plain. As they were playing these songs they had a big screen behind them on their futuristic stage. For their fifth song, they sang "Ex-Girlfriend" with a X video playing in the background. (You'd have to see it to understand.) For their next two songs they slowed it down a bit with "End It On This" and "Simple Kind of Life". Next they rocked out with "Bathwater". After which Stefani left the stage for a costume change and the five men in the band played the instrumental "Guns of Navarone".

Stefani took the stage again as No Doubt broke into "New" and "Hey Baby" and then "Running". No Doubt sang "Running" another good song for Jon and Kate to help them through their rough time. Sample lyrics: "Running, running as fast as we can. Do you think we'll make it? We're running, keep on holding on my hand so we won't get separated." It really is a beautiful song. The video screen also showed some vintage No Doubt videos, presumably when they were in their generic ska phase. They have come a long ways since then and its been a great journey.

They set up their encore with "Different People", the gut wrenching "Don't Speak" and their new song "It's My Life". That's their cover of the Talk, Talk classic which is on their greatest hits CD. No Doubt has improved on Talk, Talk's version by quite a bit. We then serenaded Stefani's 3 year old son Kingston with "Happy Birthday". No Doubt next rocked out with "Just A Girl", the song that put them into the spotlight. Stefani chose to do push ups during that song, something she did on "AI" and when I saw them in concert a few years ago. "Just A Girl" included sing alongs with the audience. She was so disappointed with the guys portion she had us sing it again. Stefani and the boys then left the stage.

After a few minutes of the audience cheering No Doubt returned to the stage to finish their concert. They sang one of their Jamaican influenced songs "Rock Steady" and then sang their newest song "Stand and Deliver". They headed into the night after completely rocking the E Center with "Sunday Morning". What a great set!

After seeing Stefani sing poorly on "AI" I was worried she might have lost her voice. However she sounded great in concert and the band is fantastic as well. It's still early in their 55 city tour, if they come to your town go check them out. Those three bands are definitely worth your hard earned money.

No Doubt's 19 song setlist:

1) "Spiderwebs"
2) "Hella Good"
3) "Underneath It All"
4) "Excuse Me Mister"
5) "Ex-Girlfriend"
6) "End It On This"
7) "Simple Kind of Life"
8) "Bathwater"
9) "Guns of Navarone" played by the band as Stefani does a costume change
10) "New"
11) "Hey Baby"
12) "Running"
13) "Different People"
14) "Don't Speak"
15) "It's My Life"
16) "Just A Girl" Stefani does push ups, sing along with audience

Encore break, another Stefani costume change
17) "Rock Steady"
18) "Stand and Deliver"
19) an extremely rocking version of "Sunday Morning"

themusicaddict

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