"Stay", "Fear City", "Heart Shaped Box"

Hello,

I was busy walking on a treadmill this morning. As usual I was listening to my iPod and watching ESPN. All of a sudden this amazing song came on my iPod and I couldn't remember who sang it. So I checked my iPod and it was this song:



I know there are a lot of Miley Cyrus haters out there and I get it. However her new CD is so much mature than her previous work. This song "Stay" is just an amazing song. There are 5 or 6 other amazing songs on this CD as well. You can go on being a hater or check out this CD. I'd love to hear your opinion after you give it a few listens.

Previously I had read Joe Hill's "Horns" and I loved the overall story. There is a frightening story going on on the outside, but inside there's a nice love story. That's the same with his other novel. This one is called "Heart Shaped Box" and it's another amazing book. It grabbed me by the collar and pulled me in. It's one of those books that's so hard to put down. I highly, highly recommend this book.

Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel by Joe Hill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wow, Joe Hill is 2 for 2 on amazingly written novels. I can't wait until his next novel comes out. This story was pretty creepy, although ultimately the good guys win. The two main characters, Jude and Mary Beth, I was pulling for like no other. I really cared what happened to these characters. And how it usually is for me: Once I finish reading an amazing book, I want to immeadiately start reading another book. I'm put Hill's short story collection on hold at the library. I'm not a big short story fan, but he is such a good writer, that I anxiously look forward to reading this collection.



View all my reviews

I had started reading Karl Marlantes' "Matterhorn", but it starts out so slowly I had to take a break. There's so many great books out there, I'm not sure if I'm going to give "Matterhorn" a second chance. Thank goodness for the library.

I don't know what my deal has been lately, but I've been on a movie watching binge. Thanks to Comcast On Demand, I can watch a new free movie pretty much every night. I'm now working on the dregs though. Last I night I watch a movie that's titled "Fear City". The story is about a person who is killing strippers. Actually the name of the movie should be "Boob City", as I haven't seen that many boobs since a Tea Party/ Sarah Palin rally. The 1984 movie is about as you'd expect it was okay. The movie stars Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams and Melanie Griffith. Griffith is looking pretty good in this movie. I had never thought that about her before. Then since it's an 80's movie, there is a bunch of that cheesy synth music playing. How was that ever a good idea? I wouldn't even call this a video movie, it's not that good. It's better than watching "Dancing With The Stars" though.

Also the next Rolling Stone cover has been announced and thank goodness it's not more of that blood and sex "True Blood" sort of cover. The new cover is of "Mad Men", a restrained picture by Rolling Stone magazines standards. Any cover with a picture of January Jones of course is going to be amazing.



themusicaddict

"Back To The Future", Lowest Common Denominator Language Stupidity, "Smallville"

Hello,

Last night I had my three youngest kids with me and as they usually do, they wanted to watch a movie. I flipped through the channels and found "Back To The Future". That's probably at least the fifth or sixth time I've seen that movie and it was amazing again. A great and funny story. My kids loved Christopher Lloyd and all his expressions and his comments. Micheal J. Fox was born to play that role. Crispin Glover was excellent as well. (It must have been my Crispin Glover week, as I also watched "Hot Time Tub Machine" this week.)

Just like I did back in 1985 I fell madly in love with Lea Thompson, she's so gorgeous in this movie. She's got the innocent look down perfectly. Just like Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) in "Grease". Do you want to feel old, Lea Thompson is 49 years old! She's still looking very good. Here's another piece of trivia for you, Olivia Newton-John was 29 when "Grease" was filmed. She's absolutely gorgeous in the below picture.



Now on to the lowest common denominator issue. I thought "Hot Time Tub Machine" was a pretty good movie, however I made the mistake of watching the unedited version. And it seemed like every third word was the f-bomb, my least favorite word in the world. It was especially used a lot when Rob Corddry was on the screen. He plays a loser in the movie, and I can't think any better way of showing that than the constant use of the f-bomb.

I'm very much looking forward to the October 20th Nickelback/ Three Days Grace/Buckcherry concert. I'm especially looking forward to Buckcherry. They kick some serious butt, but is the f-bomb really needed so much? Their constant use of that word shows a lack of intelligence and creativity. I'd suggest for them to get a thesaurus but I don't think the f-bomb is in there. Thanks to napster.com having the edited versions of most of the Buckcherry CD's.

Buckcherry also made two videos for "Crazy B", the one that allegedly is tame is bad enough. I didn't even watch the much more explicit version, no thanks. Of course, if you've seen 10 seconds of the tame version you've seen the whole video. Those 10 seconds are the whole video over and over again. How cliche is it for a heavy metal band to have a scantily clad model dance provocatively? Really isn't there a better idea out there? I'm guessing it doesn't matter because they are still going to be shooting for the lowest common denominator. Maybe Buckcherry you should challenge yourselves, raise the bar both creatively and morally? Maybe shoot for a goal of complete respect of women and not objectify. I know that's too much to hope for, but amusicaddict can dream, can't he?

Yes, I acknowledge the hypocrisy of whining about the lowest common denominator of language and then having pictures of all these gorgeous women on my blog. However I must say after seeing this picture I want to watch Season 10 of "Smallville". Season 10 premieres September 24th. I watched the first two or three years of it and then got tired of the lame stories.



Of course no one will ever top the gorgeousness of Teri Hatcher's Lois Lane:



I checked out a couple of episodes of "Smallville". It was okay, but here's my question? Why does the official website cwtv.com only have 4 episodes available to watch. Of course that's four more than what Comcast On Demand has. They have 0. Apparently they don't want people to catch up on past episodes and maybe watch the tenth and final season of "Smallville".

Holy cow there's a lot going on "Smallville". I've only watched Season 9, Episodes 18 and 19 and this is some of the pieces going on now. Is everyone a superhero now? When did Superman stop being Superman and become the Blur? What is exactly the Blur and how is he different than Superman? When did Superman become friends with the Luthor family? What's a Candarian and why are they here? What do they want? Why does everyone know where the Fortress is, so much for the Fortress of Solitude. What is going on with Lois and Superman? What is Checkmate and Watchtower? Do the producers of "Smallville" realize that's the Watchtower is the name of the Jehovah Witness magazine? Why is everyone so pretty or handsome. How many story lines can be going on at once?

themusicaddict

Dio rocks!, Ozzy isn't too shabby either.

Hello,

I was driving home from work tonight and I had a Dio "Anthology" cranked up and was rocking out to some sweet tunes. Here's a selection of some of Dio's best songs, starting with his best song.

Don't judge these great songs by their cheesy 80's videos. These videos are horrendous. It makes more sense why MTV rarely plays videos anymore.

"Last In Line":



"Holy Diver":



Live "Rainbow In The Dark", could those pants be any tighter Ronnie?



"We Rock": (Listening to the live version of this song confirms what I thought about the above "live" performance. Ronnie is lip synching and with those pants so tight I understand.)



"One Night In The City":



One more: "Egypt (The Chains Are On)"



Since they are so closely associated with each other, lets give a little love to Ozzy. Here's one of the best openings to a song ever, and then the rest of the song.



"Crazy Train" again, but this time live and with great guitar work. I just can't get myself to call a guitar an ax. I can see why this video almost has 19 million views.



themusicaddict

"Horns" Review, "Matterhorn" first 25 pages

Horns by Joe Hill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'd actually give this book 4.5 stars. It's about Ig Perrish and how after a night of debauchery he wakes up with two horns on his head. He's not exactly the devil but he turns into a devil like human. Unbelievably in the midst of this story there's a very sweet love story. Ig and Merrin, they sort of get sidetracked though. A nice ending that ties up all the loose ends and the end feels right.

Hill is the son of Stephen King, but he doesn't mention a word about that. I look forward to reading his other books.

View all my reviews

I started reading Karl Marlantes "Matterhorn" tonight. My first impression is this book starts out slowly. However I'm going to stick with it as I've only read about the first 25 pages so far. I will give it at least 100 pages to pull me in. All I've read is great reviews about the book. I'll keep you posted.

themusicaddict

"Walking Dead"

Hello,

This looks like it can be really good or really bad. It has a very Stephen King/"28 Days Later" feel to it. Just stay away from Atlanta! This is from AMC, the same people who bring you the amazing "Mad Men".



themusicaddict

Songs Rocking My iPod of late.

Hello,

Starting with the last 25 songs played, starting with what was first played.
25) "Next To You"- Buckcherry
24) "Everything"- Buckcherry
23) "Sorry"- Buckcherry
22) "Crazy Woman" (okay I edited the title a bit, but I hate the b word.)- Buckcherry. Of Nickelback, Three Days Grace and Buckcherry, can you figure out which band I want to see the most? Although neither Three Days Grace or Nickelback are both good bands as well.
21) "The Good Life"- Three Days Grace
20) "Never Again"- Nickelback
19) "How You Remind Me"- Nickelback
18) "Rockstar"- Nickelback
17) "Just To Get High"- Nickelback. Nickelback is definitely a singles band, the've released enough CD's to have a pretty good selection of songs for a concert. But a lot of their CDs only have two or three good songs on it. In comparison Buckcherry's "15" has 7 or 8 great songs on it at least.
16) "Sunday Bloody Sunday"- U2 This isn't even live version, but the original version. It also kicks butt. Truly one of the greatest songs of all-time about one of the saddest days in Ireland-England relations.
15) "Rusty Cage"- Soundgarden One of the many classic songs from the band making a comeback. They are on the cover of the latest Spin magazine and also headlined at Lollapalooza.
14) "One Of Us"- Joan Osborne Quite simply an amazing song.
13) "I'm Like A Bird"- The amazing Nelly Furtado.
12) "Up Where We Belong"- Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, a relaxing song played on a Sunday.
11) "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"- The Police An eighties classic, one of the many.
10) "Every Woman In the World"- Air Supply A sappy love song, that increases in quality when it applies to a special woman in one's life. Maybe someday I'll be there again.
9) "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"- The Platters One of the more devestating love songs ever.
8) "A View To A Kill"- Duran Duran One of Duran Duran's best songs and also one of the best James Bond songs.
7) "R.O.C.K. In The USA"- John Mellencamp. A song that started off my day with a jolt of energy. Coffee in song form. An under appreciated Mellencamp classic.
6) "Cradle Of Love"- Billy Idol Idol's ode to the Lolita's of the world.
5) "Crucify"- Tori Amos Amos at her finest and at her more schating.
4) "Hit The Road Jack"- Ray Charles A song that has applied to all us men a time or two or three (you get the idea) in our lives.
3) "Sultans of Swing" Dire Straits Along with "Twisting By The Pool" and "Romeo and Juliet", 3 of the best songs of my generation.
2) "All For Leyna"- Billy Joel An excellent album track off Joel's classic CD "Glass Houses".
1) "Private Eyes"- Hall and Oates A hard to resist melody.

themusicaddict

BYU Independence- Just Say "No", Arsenal

Hello,

Before we get to the BYU going independent nonsense, I'd just like to congratulate my English Premier League team Arsenal. The Gunners put a whooping on Blackpool 6-0. I watched this game on ESPN2 and from the start it was clear that Arsenal is twice the team that Blackpool is. I don't even know that much about football (or as us Americans call it soccer). But with Arsenal's crisp passing, playing most of the game in Blackpool's half and their aggressive style Arsenal dominated.

Two weeks from today BYU plays Washington at LES at 5:00pm. By then this whole BYU going independent nonsense should be over. As a humongous BYU fan, I can't see what good would come from BYU going independent in football. It's probably partially a response to Utah joining the Pac 10. If that plays into it, that's lame. BYU, or anyone else for that matter, shouldn't be a follower. It makes BYU look pathetic, especially if they take a step down to the WAC. Utah is taking a step up allegedly to the Pac 10.

(On a side rant: are they really taking a step up? In money they are and we all know that's the bottom line in this corporate America driven culture we live in. However I would say if BYU stays in the MWC, that the MWC will be a better football conference. Next year TCU and BSU, two BCS teams last year, will be in the MWC. They will also have the tough AFA, Fresno State (who won their bowl game last year) teams. The other teams in the MWC battling to improve. They also may or may not have BYU. Most of those teams are clearly superior to the sisters of the poor that make up most of the WAC. The Pac 10 will have Utah, USC and resurgent Washington and Stanford teams. Also one of the Oregon teams is usually decent. However USC will still be under the penalties from the Pete Carrol regime. They can't even play in the postseason for the next two years. UCLA may be better, but I don't ever see them breaking out of USC's shadow. Then there are Colorado, Cal and Washington State, when was the last time those three teams last made a true impact? The Arizona teams like to show a lot of promise early and but then usually fade.)

Wait a second, where was I? So yeah I'm calling BYU pathetic if they are trying to respond to Utah this way. All the MWC teams only get $1.3 million from the MTN Network contract. The MWC just needs to dump the Mountain. BYU's move to go to independent is obviously just a money grab. BYU should stand high above that. I'm afraid what happens after BYU's first rough season as an independent. The pressure is going to be great to get back to a higher level and that's when the temptation steps in. Then it will be highly likely for someone at BYU to start cutting corners to achieve that prominence BYU so desperately wants. (See AD Mike Garret at USC.) The predicted result: BYU will end up in a worse situation, would the MWC even want them back at that point? When greed starts to dictate choices, that's usually when things start getting worse.

Can you imagine the MWC without both the Utes and Cougars? Let's be honest those two teams are the heart of the conference. Usually two of the better teams in football and basketball. Who would be the new heart of the MWC and would I even care anymore? After a couple of years, probably not a whole lot. One would think that BSU and TCU would become the heart of the MWC. While both teams are fantastic in football, BSU is mediocre in basketball and TCU is downright abysmal in basketball. I'm surprised by me writing this but if New Mexico could go back to the Rocky Long glory days, the Lobos could go be the heart of the MWC. This constantly changing football landscape is crazy.

I heard a BYU rep talk about "growing their brand", every time I hear that I throw up in my mouth a bit. I lost respect for Ivanka Trump when she said that. She's still gorgeous though.



themusicaddict humbly suggests for BYU to stay in the MWC and make the best of it. Continue to talk to Conference USA about possibly have a championship game to go to a BCS game. If BYU really wants to do something productive, blow up that piece of crap called the Mountain. The MWC took a step back when they formed that. Go back to ESPN. Independence in football has a big upside, but the downside is much greater.

themusicaddict

"The Graveyard Book"

Hello,

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I started reading this last night and I wasn't very impressed. It starts off with the death of 3 people and their surviving child, a baby, sneaks out of his crib. He heads off to the graveyard and the spirits of the dead people will take care of him until he's grown. Really? I read the first 50 pages and that was enough for me thanks.

View all my reviews >>

On my reading list I plan on finishing Joe Hill's "Horns" and then hopefully start reading Karl Marlantes "Matterhorn". That is if it's in the library at that time. Other books on the future reading list include Bret Easton Ellis' "Lunar Park", Jennifer Egan's "The Keep", The Percy Jackson novels and a history of the Arsenal Football Club.

thebookaddict

John Connolly's "The Gates"

Hello,

Another book review:

The Gates by John Connolly

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I've finished this utterly charming and hilarious young adult novel. It's aimed at teenagers, using a snarky sense-of-humor to both educate and entertain. A kid will read this book and learn a lot and then realize that learning doesn't need to be painful. In this book the title refers to the gates of hell, but don't be frightened by that. There are daemons and the Great Malevolence, but there is very little fright. The fright there is is overcome by kids using their brains.

The writing is very tongue-in-cheek. People of all ages will love this book. I'm changing my mind a bit, maybe a kid should be at least 13 or 14 to read this book, someone able to differentiate between reality and fantasy. Although told with a tongue-in-cheek style, it still does talk about Hell, Satan and daemons.

The book started out strongly but finished a little less than strong. I would still highly reccomend it though. I think at least young teenagers would enjoy this book. I would suggest that parents read the book and then decide if their kid is ready to read it. I think my two oldest boys would like it. But I don't think my 9 year old daughter is quite ready, she was frightened by "Kazaam" for heck's sake!

View all my reviews >>

thebookaddict

Myspace music romeo

Hello,

Before I get a bunch of crap, yes I have a myspace.com account, but I only use it for music related things. I have no friends on myspace.com. facebook.com takes care of my on-line socializing for me. This morning I read about the myspace.com Romeo feature. Essentially what it is is random videos are played. They are either completely random or based on 15 genres and 13 moods as selected by myspace.com.

Romes doess have some cool ideas, but too many not so good ideas. First of all the player's screen is too big to fit on my computer screen. To be able to access the controls, which are both on top and bottom of where the video is, I constantly have to move the screen up and down. Second: Only 6 skips are allowed before one has to suffer through the video myspace gives you. Romeo makes too many bad selections, so that's problematic. 3) If I have up multiple tabs and am working on one of the other multiple tabs, that slows down the Romeo player. To get to the next video quicker, I have to go back to the myspace.com Romeo tab briefly. 4) There are way too many commercials played. They are either played after every song or after every two songs. One commercial, for a Windoze compmuter, is played and it obviously can't be skipped.

Romeo has controls: love, recommend on your myspace page, buy from iTunes, stop and skip. The control to pick between moods or genres is at the top. If you don't see it, click on the screen and the controls appear.

Initially I didn't pick a mood or genre, just let it be completely random. That was a mistake. Here's my experience after listening to 52 songs.

When I listened to Romeo with no mood or genre, here's what I got"

1) "The Opposite of Adults"- Chiddy Bang. Yet another lame rap video. This song could also be called "The Opposite of Music". I skipped this song.
2) I didn't get the title- The Gorillaz. Skip
Windows commercial
3) "Memories"- David Guetta Another not very creative song, There's way too much "Hey Hey Ya Ya".
Windows commercial. At this point I realized that 6 skips are allowed and there's a commercial every two songs.
4) "Our Kind of Love"- Lady Antebellum good
5) "The Consequence"- You Me At Six good
Windows commercial again
6) "Do You Think About Me?"- The lame 50 Cent. The only thing I liked about this video is it's an angry divorce song. I could relate to Fitty. Skip.
7) "I Feel Better"- Hot Chip. A weak synth driven song. Skip.
8) "Rocket"- Goldfrapp. The first song I loved, using the love control.
9) "New Star"- Turin Brakes
10) "Walking In My Shoes"- Depeche Mode. When Dave Gahan is singing, the video doesn't match up with audio.
commercial same one over and over again
11) "Digital Love"- Daft Punk Skip. 11 songs played: 6 skipped part of the way through and only two I loved. The other videos I was neutral on.
12) "When I Grow Up"- Fever Ray. I would have skipped this song if I could have, but the skip feature has been deactivated temporarily by myspace.com.
13) "Alice"- Moby I would have skipped if I could have.
14) "Sly"- Massive Attack
same commercial again
15) "Life Is Sweet"- Chemical Brothers. Another video I would have skipped part of the way through.
16) "Ghosts N Stuff"- Deadmav5
same commercial again
17) "Momma's Boy"- Chromeo
18) "Numbers"- Sky Eats Airplanes. I can skip again and do so.
commercial
19) "Fit Song"- Cornelious Skip.
20) "Rock and Go"- Blue Man Group
I started over on Romeo, still watching videos on completely random.
21) "When I Grow Up"_ Fever Ray. Second time this song is played, it still sucks and I skipped again.
commercial
22) "Alice"- Moby Second time played. Again the song still sucks, but now again I can't skip.

Go away from completely random. Now I listen to the pop genre and my mood is feeling energetic.
23) "So Obvious"- Runner Runner It's immediately a much better video. The concept is everyone, but the band members, are on the cell phones and thus can't make a personal connection. Just one of the many reasons I hate cell phones. Then all the cell phones lose coverage and everyone makes personal contact and starts having fun. Imagine that! That is until the lead singer receives a call at the end of the video, then we are back where we were at the start of the video.
commercial
24) "Blah Blah Blah"- Ke$ha. Immediately skip.
25) "Ice"- Lights The third song I marked as love.
commercial
26) "Heaven Can Wait"- We The Kings
27) "Runaway"- Artist vs. Poet
commercial
28) "Weightless"- All Time Low This is a funny, creative video. But still why doesn't the song and the lip sycnching match up. It looks even worse than "AI" group performances.
29) "Take My Hand" (Remix)- The Cab
30) "If Only They Knew"- A Rocket To The Moon

Change to rock music and energetic mood.
31) "Editions of You"- Roxy Music Grainy live video. Skip.
32) "You and I Tonight"- Faber Drive Good song.
33) "Graffiti Eyes"- stellastar* This is a rock song? Skip.
34) "Song 2"- Blur. A great song, but I'm not discovering new music.
commercial
35) "Dance Shawty"- 2 Live Crew This is rock? I've skipped too many times, so can't skip this video. It's a lame, stupid and obscene video.
36) "King of the Dogs"- Iggy Pop. This song sucks but I still can't skip. This song is rock?
37) "Little Know It All"- Iggy Pop featuring Sum 41. A not real great song, but at least it's a rock song. I would skip but being prevented by myspace.com
commercial
38) "Give Me The Meltdown"- Rob Thomas I gave this "love", this is the best song played so far.
commercial
39) "F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X."- Fall of Troy. Love.
commercial
40) "Gimme Chemicals"- Pink Spiders. Love.
commercial
41) "C'Mon"- Go Betty Go. Love
commercial
42) "Saturday Superhouse"- Biffy Clyro. The skip option still isn't back
commercial
43) "City Is At War"- Cobra Starship. This is a good band, but it's not a rock song. I still can't skip.
44) "Honky Tonk Song"- George Jones An entertaining video but not a great song
commercial
45) "Doing It All For My Baby"- Huey Lewis and the News. This video seems to be inspired by the "Thriller" video. Is it a tribute or a parody? My guess would be parody.
46) "Houseclouds"- The Liars The skip option is still off or I would use it. Again this is a rock song? It's good for a bathroom break at least.
47) "I Still Remember"- Bloc Party
commercial
48) "Vaseline"- Stone Temple Pilots. Love.
commercial
49) "Talking About the Smiling"- Flaming Lips. This song sucks. I would have skipped, but still can't.
commercial
50) "Siren on The 101"- Over It
commercial
51) "Mono"- Courtney Love I would skip again, but I still can't.
commercial
52) "Kennedy"- Kill Hannah
commercial

I'm wondering if all the commercials at the end were from me writing this blog and I didn't have the Romeo tab up? Writing this blog made me realize how lame I think Romeo is. This is alright but essentially a poor man's version of Pandora with videos.

themusicaddict

"Love Me But Don't Show Me"

Hello,

This is funny and so wrong on many levels. I love the rhyme of "stallion" and "young women's medallion". Enjoy!



themusicaddict

Books..., Buckcherry (those two topics can't really be in the same blog, can they?)

Hello,

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A humorous look at a fan's obsessive love of the Arsenal Gunners.(Go Arsenal!) I would reccomend it to lovers of sports and their respective others. Reading this made me think of all the great and torturous memories of being a BYU fan. For those of you who are interested Arsenal's season starts this Sunday.

View all my reviews >>

Here are some great Buckcherry songs besides the two songs they are most known for.

"Next 2 You"



"Everything"



"Don't Go Away"



"Check Your Head"



"Broken Glass"



Keeping with the "Broken Glass" theme, here's Annie Lennox:



themusicaddict

Do you have onion skin?

Hello,

Do you have onion skin, if so here's a song for you from Boom Crash Opera.



Katy Perry's third single off her new CD "Teenage Dream" is called "Circle The Drain". She calls this her "You Oughta Know", dedicated to ex-boyfriend Travis McCoy seemingly. It's available on iTunes right now, or you can wait until August 24th and buy the whole CD. I'm looking very forward to this CD. ("Circle The Drain" does has explicit lyrics for those of you who are more of a sensitive nature. She also rhymes foreplay and forte. Interesting.)

themusicaddict

"Crazy Heart", "I Don't Think Hank Done It This Way"

Hello,

I watched "Crazy Heart" last night and it was alright. Although there should be a warning at the start of the movie stating: "No cliche was harmed in the filming of this movie". Let's see the old country singer living out the rest of his life boozing, smoking and chasing women. The original songs in the movie were enjoyable. But about 2/3rds of the way through this movie the following song played:



This song blows all those other songs out of the water. Waylon Jennings and his classic "I Don't Think Hank Done It This Way". Jennings one of those old classic country music singers whose music still has an impact. Some of the greatest music of all-time was made by him, Johnny Cash ("Ring of Fire"), Merle Haggard "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink" and many others.



I hear you young kids out there thinking "this music is lame and means nothing to me". All I can say to you is wait until you've been around the block a few times. If I was a drinker, "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink" could have been my theme song the last few months.

themusicaddict

The Reason Why Divorce Is So Expensive!

Hello,

Before I get to the main part of this blog, I have a couple of other things to write about. I appreciate you looking at my blog. However if the music that starts up is annoying to you, just go to the bottom of this page and you can turn off the music. The player used to be at top, now it's at the bottom. I'll check and see if that's something I can change.

My main purpose for this blog is to bring to your attention great music. No it's not for me to whine about my personal life.

The following is Serena Ryder's "All For Love". I'm sorry for the bad sound, but this is a great song and I love her voice. This was an iTunes free Discovery Download.



Here's another great song, Stephen Kellogg's "4th of July":



Now on to the part about why divorce is so expensive. On Thursday I was just chilling at my job. I heard one of the instructors yell down the hall, "Do you know why divorce is so expensive?". He then provided the answer, "because it's worth it".

I've been thinking about that a lot since Thursday. My initial response was no it isn't. But after thinking about it the last few days my answer is still no it isn't. Now there are valid reasons why my ex-wife divorced me. I'm not saying anything against that. And the financial expense may be worth it to her.

But although the divorce may have been necessary, I don't think I would say it's worth it. First of all I don't think it's worth the physic scars that our kids, my ex-wife and myself now have from that. Some of those scars will go away in time, but some of those scars will be with us forever.

Not only the physic scars but all the financial downsides. Every time I drive up to my family's house and see the For Sale sign on it I'm not thinking it was worth it. I'm also very sad about it. I keep on hoping a miracle will happen and they can live there for as long as they want to. My kids seem to be dealing with the divorce as well as possible, but is it worth it? (This was so much clearer in my mind when I was thinking about it. Now it's coming out a jumbled mess.) All of us will have to move into different houses and live with the parents, which isn't a great situation for anyone.

I don't mind paying child support, if I could I'd pay more. In my therapist's and my opinion, the longer the kids can live in their house, the better. They are probably going to start out in one school and then have to move during the school year. Is that worth it? Just another downside to the divorce. If I could change one thing about the whole divorce, it would be that my family still could live in their house. (No I wouldn't change the divorce, because our time has obviously come and gone.)

Another downside for me of the divorce is that I'm going to have to get a second job. (I can hear you out there saying, "stop being a wussy, it won't kill you to have two jobs".) That won't be the worst thing in the world. I figure if I have to get a second job I'm going to get a job at a place I want to work. I would have had an interview with the local library this past Tuesday, but they were only doing interviews when I was at my other job. They said they would call back in a few weeks.

I'm having faith in the Lord that he will guide me to a good second job. All I know is I need a second job so that I can pay all my financial obligations. I'll be very grateful for getting a second job, but another downside will be I'll probably have to be at work some of those times when I'll be able to see my kids. So in taking care of them the best that I can, ironically I'll see them less. Is it worth it?

With so much of my money going to my kids, there is no way I'm going to be able to move out of their house for many years. The cost of divorce is expensive in many ways, not only financially. Divorce is needed, but my experience it's not worth it.

Please comment if you would like to. I didn't do very well explaining this like I want to.

Now on to much less serious and important things: "Mad Men" is on tonight!

themusicaddict

Arcade Fire- Live Review

Hello,

Arcade Fire performed on youtube.com on August 5th, it's a webcast from Madison Square Garden. Here's a song by song recap of the concert. The concert was suppose to start at 8:00, but it didn't start until 8:15. That 15 minutes was filled up by Terry Gilliam silliness. Yes the amazing director and former Monty Python member is directing the webcast. He's sort of goofy. That makes sense as a member of Monty Python but not so much as one of this generation's great directors.

1) Very appropriately Arcade Fire start off with the song "Ready To Start". That song is off their latest CD "The Suburbs". It's a bit of a snoozer but things are about to pick up. 3 stars

2) Next up is Neighborhood #2 (Laika) off the amazing "Funeral" CD. 5 stars

3) The amazing "No Cars Go" from "Neon Bible". One of the early highlights of their set, it fit well next to "Laika". 5 stars The technology isn't quite seamless yet, I missed about one-half of this song while it was buffering. But then I had no problem for the next few songs. I don't know if that is the actual webcast or just my computer. From the comments it seems like I'm not the only one who's having buffering issues.

4) They kept the momentum going with Funeral's "Haiti". 5 stars

5) Things slowed down a bit with "Empty Room". 3 stars

6) I'm not sure what the name of this song. According to setlists.com, this is "The Suburbs". "I'm moving past the feeling". 4 stars

7) Next up was "Crown of Love" from "Funeral". A classic break up song. "If you still want me, please forgive me". An amazing melancholy song. Dang it I missed part of this song. So far mostly singing, not much interaction with the fans. 4,5 stars

8) Next up is "Rococo", a very strange but entertaining song. 4 stars

9) Here comes "Intervention" with the line, "Working for the church while your family dies". This song comes from "Neon Bible". People are leaving comments, that helps me with the titles on the songs I don't know. I can pick what camera angle I want or can go with picture in picture. 4 stars

10) "We Used To Wait". If you couldn't figure out the title of this song, they sing it several times. It does get a little old, but nonetheless a good song. 3.5 stars

11) Another excellent, kick ass song. "Neighborhood # 3 (Power Out)". All the highlights of the show come from "Funeral". I love this song!!!!!!! 5 stars

I have no idea how to describe their music. It's not exactly mellow, but it doesn't exactly rock out either. A lot of songs there's that slow tension build up, but the song never fully busts out.

12)"Rebellion (Lies)" 5.0 stars, this show is really kicking butt. Again yet another great classic from "Funeral". By my count the 5th song from that classic CD.

From reading the comments, it's a worldwide audience.

13) My favorite song from "The Suburbs" (at least for now), "Month of May". 3.5 stars.

The lead singer, Win, must have gone to the Buckcherry school of concerts. He likes to use the f bomb a few times too much. It's such a cliche, like something you learn in Rock Star 101.

14) "Keep The Car Running", another great song. This song comes from "Neon Bible". 4 stars

Encore

15) "Neighborhood # 1 (Tunnels)" again from "Funeral". 5 stars

16) "Sprawl 2 (Mountains Beyond Mountains)". They play about the first minute, mess up the song and start over. This is from the new CD, "The Suburbs". This is my new favorite song from this CD. This is a very cool song. 5 stars.

This has been a very good show, can they release this as a live CD?

17) And the final song of the night is? I'll give you a hint, it's from "Funeral". Yes it's "Wake Up". 5.5 stars on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. Now I think I'll go listen to "Funeral". 7 songs were played from "Funeral" tonight.

youtube.com played a rebroadcast several minutes after the concert ended.

themusicaddict

Thank You

Hello,

It looks like I'll be going to the Nickelback/Three Days Grace/Buckcherry concert with my oldest son. I've been listening to Buckcherry's music a lot the last couple of days. Although their lyrics are of the lowest common denominator variety, they are actually a pretty good band. I really like this song:



rollingstone.com and ew.com both have links to streams of Taylor Swift's new song. It's titled "Mine" and it's another instant smash. It goes to radio on August 16th. And if you are wondering, yes it's a love song.

Again tonight is the Arcade Fire concert from Madison Square Garden, it will be live on youtube.com. This is the second of the Arcade Fire's concerts from MSG, and rollingstone.com gave last night's concert high praise. themusicaddict will be enjoying it.

It looks like Nigel Lythgoe will return to "American Idol" as a producer. I was excited about this at first. Previously he said that if he returned he'd want all new judges and a three judge panel. I agree with both of those things. However now that he's officially back with the show, he's changing his tune. Now he's saying he'd like to have Paula Abdul come back (please no!). He also confirmed that "Idol" is in talks with Steven Tyler (please no) and J Lo (I'd be fine with her). Although Shania Twain would be better than any of those three.

Then Lythgoe's worst news is he indicated that Randy Jackson would still have a place on the panel. Really? Jackson is a survivor, you've got to give that to him. Kids here's a lesson: if you don't know what a word means, don't use it. Lythgoe called Jackson the show's "barnacle". I think Lythgoe probably meant foundation or rock, but I think barnacle is a good description. According to dictionary.com a barnacle is "a person or thing that clings tenaciously". It also seems that "AI" is clinging tenaciously to Jackson and I have no idea why. Although I would say Abdul is more of a barnacle to "AI" than Jackson is.

I don't think Kara the Terrible is coming back. The only time we seem to hear about her is when the press is noting that we haven't heard anything about her. I so hope this is the last season of the show, I don't know how much of it I'm going to be watching. This show is like a car without an engine, it's dead on the side of the freeway. Take it to the junkyard already!

Also while I was praying last night I felt prompted to write my blog of thanks to all the many people I owe thanks too. So here goes:

I would like to thank my Heavenly Father for all his blessings He has provided me with. I would also like to thank Jesus and the Holy Ghost for all the goodness, guidance and blessings they've provided in my life. I would like to thank them for the inspiration to write this blog and realize how blessed I am.

I feel like Alanis Morrissette in this song and video, very grateful for all my blessings.



First of all I want to thank my Mom and Dad for bringing me into this world (and not taking me back out as the old Bill Cosby joke goes.) They've been behind me all 43 years of my life. I'd especially like to thank my Mom for the constant and unwavering support throughout my whole life.

I would also like to thank my brother and sister-in-law for all the financial support they've provided to my family over the years. With their help we've been able to live a better life. My sister-in-law was going to have a chance to go to the new Cowboys Stadium. She's in Dallas a lot for work. I hope she was able to go and took some cool pictures.

I would also like to thank my ex-wife for all she has done for me. She was a good wife and for much of our marriage a good support system as well. She also brought into the world our 4 wonderful kids who bring much happiness into my life. I'll never forget how brave my ex-wife was when she gave birth to our fourth child in a bathtub. That was easily the most amazing experience I've ever been part of.

I would like to thank my kids for all the joy they bring to my life. I get to hang out with them Friday to Sunday this weekend. I love my oldest boy for how helpful he can be and for when he's nice to his little brothers and sister. I love my second oldest boy for how he's not afraid of work and how he's his Grandpa's biggest helper. I love my daughter for her zaniness and her intense love of Justin Bieber. I hope someday I can start going to concerts with her too. Just maybe not Justin Bieber. Finally I love my youngest boy for how much fun he is and for how easily it is for him to say "I love you".

I would also like to thank my friends and church leaders I've had over the years. Both have been instrumental for many of the good traits I have. Without their unyielding support I would be in a much more perilous state. Thanks to the influence of friends and the LDS Church for helping me to not enter into some harmful activities that have sunk so many other people. (I'm really trying not to preach here, these are just things I'm thankful for.)

I would also like to thank my previous employer for firing me. That led to a complete change in my life. Due to a still struggling marriage, it wasn't a job I could quit. Although I was terrible at that job. Thankfully they fired me. That was good but sadly was probably the final straw in my marriage and led to the divorce. I think the divorce was coming soon anyway, the firing just made it happen sooner. That was good for my ex-wife and I, it provided a fresh start for both of us. Also with my previous employer firing me, that made me available for a job with Ambassador Bookstores. That's a job that's a great fit for me. It's better in 90% of things than my previous job. Thank you previous employer and Ambassador Bookstores. I just realized today is my 4 month anniversary at Ambassador. Thanks Steve and Beth for being my references.

I would like to thank the creative people of world. I would like to thank the great authors, the great singers etc for all the joy and entertainment they bring to my life. I'd also like to thank all the great athletes and teams I've followed all my life. Although they've provided some frustration for me, all the good times have been worth it. Nothing was better than seeing my beloved Cowboys win 3 Super Bowls in 4 years. Thanks Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvan and Jimmy Johnson. I would also like to thank the Cowboys in advance for winning the Super Bowl this season.

Thanks to all the people I've worked with over the years. Many of the greatest times of my life and many of the greatest people I've met have been through work. I will never forget some of the great times I enjoyed at Dicks Market. My 17.5 years there were filled with so many good memories I couldn't even be able to think of them all. I would like to thank all my bosses and for all they did for me. I know that I can be a lot to handle as I'm in constant need of expressing my opinion, consequences be damned. Thanks again to all my bosses and fellow employees.

I'd like to thank all the pets I've had in my life. From Snoopy a dog that my Mom came home with and surprised us with when my brother and I were young. To the next dog I bought, Hoover. I also enjoy the laziest dog in the world Cody and the most attention deprived dog in the world (she thinks) Sadie. I'm even grateful for the cats I've had: 8 Lives, Cadigan and Sara. Since the divorce I haven't been able to see Cody, Sadie, Cadigan and Sara very much. I miss them too.

Thanks to my ex-brother-in-law for letting me use his car for two years. That was awesome and I'm glad I was able to give it back while it still is running.

I would also like to thank all those people who have helped me over the years that I've failed to mention here.

themusicaddict

More "Idol" rumors- Paula please go away.

Hello,

According to ew.com, Paula sent out a mysterious tweet (more likely she had someone do it for her.) The tweet reads, "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.” (That makes me think of a joke: How long does it take a blonde/airhead to get around the world? I don't have a punch line yet though.) That's a Winston Churchill quote, does Paula even know who Churchill is? ew.com "American Idol" guru Michael Slezak thinks that might mean that Paula may be hinting that she may go back to "Idol". All I have to say is: Just go away Paula, you need to pass the torch to someone else. Please crappy Kara and robotic Randy go away too. All 3 of you are terrible. To the person who said Paula is the show, I think you mean Simon is the show. This should be the last season anyway. This show has had it’s run.

Also the Brett Favre needs more attention stupidity continues on. I don't recall seeing anyone more desperate for attention than Favre. Seriously if he doesn't want to have attention, all he has to do is make a decision. Then if he changes his mind later, fine. With the pennant races really heating up in MLB, I had to hear about Favre about 10 minutes on Sportscenter last night. Can we please put a media quarantine on him until he either reports to camp or doesn't report to camp? (Yes I realize the irony of me writing about him now.)

This movie looks hilarious, although all the good scenes in it are in the previews.



themusicaddict

Brett Favre, Yes Katy you are hot!

Hello,

According to espn.com, Brett Favre is possibly about ready to announce his retirement. I honestly don't care what he does. I just want him to make a decision and STICK WITH IT. I'm sick of the soap opera that he has turned this into. I'm sick of all his not being to make a decision. He just loves to be in the media spotlight and he's milking it for all that it's worth. Brett, please just make a decision already.

Katy Perry is the new Rolling Stone cover girl and she's looking pretty good. I'm glad they actually have someone interesting on their cover for once. She has a lot of talent and great songs and I'm looking forward to her new CD on August 24th.



I was listening to this song on the way home, is this not an amazing song?



themusicaddict

See if you can figure out what the underlying theme is.

Hello,

















themusicaddict

Steven Tyler, no!!!!!!!!!!!, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire

Hello,

Over the weekend I spent a few minutes redesigning my website, do you like? I don't usually look at my own blog a lot. I did see it the other day and I realized how everything is scrunched together and doesn't look very good. It's not quite where I'd like it to be now, but it's getting better. I don't have the eye for aesthetics like my ex-wife does though.



On to "Idol": For those of you keeping track at home the panel for Season 10 consists of ? There are no confirmations as of yet. Unfortunately I think Randy Jackson will be back, he already has a contract for this season. Fox is too cheap to eat his contract, no matter how much he sucks. It also looks very likely that Jennifer Lopez will be on the panel next season. That will either be the greatest idea ever or a complete disaster. Then with every one else it's a crap shoot. Kara DioGuardi is getting no support from "AI" or Fox. I think they are keeping her in mind while they are trying to find someone else better. She's like one of those friends with benefits that's good to always keep in mind. I would dump her and Jackson so quickly if I could. Also if it was up to me there would only be three judges.

Now apparently Steven Tyler let slip that he will be one of the new judges for "AI". All I can think is oh please no, he's only slightly better than the Jessica Simpson rumors. If he was on the panel, I think he would do his best to make the show about him. I just can't see how that would work in any way. (Of course this is the same show that had Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson as judges for at least 8 seasons.) What would a panel of J Lo, Hell no! (Tyler) and just please go (Jackson) have in the way of constructive advice? I'm still waiting for Jackson's first piece of constructive advice and I'm afraid that Tyler would be trying to get in Lopez's pants the whole time. (Please no more Simon Cowell- Kara DiaGuardi like flirting.) Also as one commenter suggested on ew.com would you really want Tyler around a bunch of the newly allowed 15 year olds? I know I wouldn't want Tyler (or Don Draper for that matter) anywhere near my daughter.

I was excited to read on rollingstone.com the other day that a new Michael Jackson CD will be coming out in October. This CD will consist of 10 all new Michael Jackson songs, including outtakes from "Thriller" and "Bad". According to Rolling Stone, Jackson left behind hard drives with about 100 songs on them. This includes 5 songs he worked on with Will.i.am, the master mind behind the fantastic Black Eyed Peas. Some of his other collaborations I'm not so excited about, Akon? Seriously he has already disappeared from the music landscape. Not that he was any good in the first place.

Driving to work I was jamming to his "Dangerous" CD, one of his lesser known CD's. It's still a great CD and sounds good on my car's booming sound system. (Thanks, Mom. To all people who are thinking I'm a mama's boy. I admit it now please go piss off.) "Dangerous" has many great songs on it, including one of my favorite Jackson songs "Black or White". This CD also has "In The Closet", "Who Is It", "Heal The World", "Remember The Time" and "Give In To Me". If you are even a marginal Jackson fan, you need to pick up this disc. It's well worth your money, especially on a jamming stereo.

Two CD's of note are coming out tomorrow 1) Lady Gaga's "The Remix"- a collection of remixes of 10 of her best songs. I'm not a big remix fan, but her music is so inventive I think this one might actually work. I've heard snippets of it on amazon.com and plan on listening to all of it tomorrow on napster.com. I can hardly wait. Although Lady G, on a personal note will you please cut out the skank? She has yet another provocative cover on Vanity Fair. Now I like pictures of nearly naked women as much as the next guy. But with Lady Gaga, it's getting tired. For someone into self and female empowerment as much as she is, you'd think she'd be one of the last to resort to sex to sell her CD's. Plus she doesn't need to. Lady Gaga, you are one of the most original and innovative artists currently out there. You were a breath of fresh air in the first decade of this millennium. That first decade otherwise known as one of the most boring decades for music in history. No and it's not due to me getting older.

Another fresh breath of air for that lousy decade of music is Arcade Fire. Their first CD "Funeral" quite simply was genius. It may be the best CD of that whole decade. Their next CD, "Neon Bible" wasn't quite as good but still had some good songs on it. Two of the better songs are "Keep The Car Running" and the excellent "No Cars Go." Arcade Fire is back with their new CD tomorrow. The name of this CD is "The Suburbs". My expectations were lowered a bit after listening to two songs off of it from their myspace.com page. I'm lukewarm about both songs. I plan on listening to it tomorrow if I have time, if not definitely Wednesday. (I love napster.com). I also look forward to watching/listening to their concert on youtube Thursday night. They were nice enough for it not to start until I get home from work.

I know this is a rather long blog by my standards but I have a lot going on in my head. I love having this as an outlet. Plus after having no visitors yesterday, I need to have multiple topics to pull in my usual two or three hits a day :).

In my getting ready for the English Premier Soccer league, I'm reading Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch". (Yes, the same book that was made into a movie about the Boston Red Sox starring Drew Barrymore.) This book is about the Arsenal Gunners and Hornby's intense love of them. This book so far is basically a collection of journal entries strung together with the Arsenal Football Club as the unifying theme. However, I wish "Fever Pitch" was more cohesive and it would work a lot better. Hornby is a good writer, so I'm enjoying the book. I enjoyed both his "A Long Way Down" and "High Fidelity". (Yes I'm currently reading about 3 or 4 books now.)

I watched "Mad Men" last night, another great episode. Yes I will be writing about it, but it takes me a couple of days to think through a new episode. Just a couple of quick thoughts: If "Mad Men" can bring back the characters Glenn and Freddy Rumsen, where is Sal? I know he didn't sign a contract for this season but please still bring him back. Okay one more thought, can Don Draper go at least one episode without having sex with someone. If "Mad Men" was Freudian theory, Don would be the Id. I love Don Draper, so I was hoping this would be a redemptive season for him. I'd love to see the good side of his character win out for at least a few episodes, is that too much to ask?

themusicaddict