This is a friend's book, "Wilderness" he's drawing attention to the book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will not get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Hello,
Dearest Brett:
You've had a good run. You've given us a lot of good memories. You've battled like a warrior and there's nothing else the NFL fan can expect of you. Finish out this season or not, but it's time for you to retire. In the below picture you look like the old man you are. Your team is 2-6 and what else do you have to play for. Thanks for the memories!
The weekly joke that is the Dallas Cowboys continued as they were drilled at home 35-17. Dallas falls to 1-6 on the season. Dallas was outplayed in every category.
It's time to fire Wade Phillips immediately, why keep him anymore. I know the reason is to save money. But how good of an investment is that. The team is demoralized and at the rate they are playing now are on their way to a 1-15 season. At this point it wouldn't surprise that they Cowboys find a way to lose to Detroit. Can Dallas punt on this season.
Again this is how important it is to get a good solid head coach. Jerry you've got to get the best coach for this team. Rumors about John Fox possibly being the next Dallas Cowboys coach makes me want to roll my eyes. Jerry I know you had to share the glory with Jimmy Johnson when he was your coach, but didn't he win three Super Bowls for you? The title that Dallas won with Barry Switzer had more to do with Jimmy Johnson than Switzer. Jerry was it better to have your team winning Super Bowls or to pretend like your a GM?
Then your ego got in the way and you parted ways with Johnson, other than Bill Parcells, it's been one mediocre coach after another.
My recommendations 1) Fire Wade Phillips now, hasn't he done enough damage? Do you like your team being a NFL punchline? I was glad for Phillips being a good defensive coach. But after the team gave up 76 points in two HOME games I'm beginning to question that. 2) Build for the future now. Don't scout future opponents, it doesn't matter anyway. Start scouting free agents and for the draft. There's a great chance you are going to get a good draft pick. You might be able to even get a real quarterback. 3) If any of your big studs get injured don't rush them back for this season. 4) Get a good offensive coordinator. I think Jason Garrett has proved he's nothing more than a mediocre offensive coordinator. When San Diego fires Norv Turner, maybe you can get him as the OC. 5) It's time to go out and get a clutch quarterback. It's time for Tony Romo to be demoted to second string. Dallas isn't ever going to win anything significant with him as their quarterback. I know his stats look good, except for the stat that matters most- victories in the postseason. 6) One of the most important changes though is to get a solid offensive line. Whoever the quarterback is, he needs to have more time to make good passes. Also an O-line is needed to establish the run, which in turn will take pressure off the quarterback. Also many of the current O-linemen are breaking down. Get a couple of stud offensive linemen in the draft or free agency.
Also Jerry Jones has apologized to the fans as well as he should. Now if he's truly contrite, he needs to fire himself, Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett immediately. I see that Jones has studied other teams and it doesn't help them to make coaching changes in the middle of the season. To which I have two questions 1) What teams are you talking about? 2) If you fired the three previously mentioned people, really how could it hurt? This team is just playing out the string now. The team has quit and honestly who can blame them? When you go to battle, the full effort should be put into it so that your team has the best chance for success.
I know a lot of people will read this and say I don't know what I'm talking about. However watching Dallas play this season, I'm thinking the same thing about the people making the decisions for the Cowboys this season. I don't know a lot about football but I know enough that I would have never hired Wade Phillips as head coach. Of course to me as a fan, it's more important that my team wins than Jerry's ego gets satiated.
This is a friend's book, "Wilderness" he's drawing attention to the book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will not get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Before we get to the new music of U2, James Blunt finally has new music out. The following song is called "Stay The Night". It's the lead single from his soon to be released CD "Some Kind of Trouble". That CD will be out on January 25th. I quite like this song.
Here's a bunch of new U2 songs, shot at various concerts. "Mercy":
"Return of the Stingray Guitar" and then one of my favorite U2 songs "It's A Beatuiful Day":
"Glastonbury":
This is a very pretty song, "Every Breaking Wave":
This is a friend's book, "Wilderness" he's drawing attention to the book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will not get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Hello,
First of all I'd just like to say, Happy Birthday to my youngest son. I love you! Yes my youngest son is a Halloween birthday. He dressed up as a army skeleton for Halloween.
Halloween is one of the lamest holidays. Really do we need a holiday where we can pretend that we are someone or something else? Isn't that we do everyday already. When your at work, at church, out in public, on a date do you really act how you really are. The only places where my true personality comes out is at home and at my therapist's office. It comes out there because I'm trying to work on things and become a better person. There's no room for bull crap in a therapist's office.
So you can get your full zombie on, AMC is showing "Dawn of the Dead" at 8:00 EST. Then that leads into the first episode of "The Walking Dead". I can hardly wait. Go Zombies! "Dawn of The Dead" trailer (Spot the actor from "Flash Forward"):
"The Walking Dead" trailer:
Cool! That's not the only scary thing on TV today though. Also one of the early NFL games today is the woeful 3-4 Jacksonville Jaguars going into Dallas to play the even worse 1-5 Cowboys. With Tony Romo injured and this season lost, it's time for Dallas to start rebuilding. With Romo injured let's let him rest for the rest of the season and the next couple of seasons too :) If a Dallas player is injured, there's no need to rush him back. Everything from this point forward should be all about the future. Why does Wade Phillips still have his job? Jerry wish him luck and send him on his way. This season isn't salvageable and he's not the one that could salvage it anyway.
Another scary sight is that the 0-2 Jazz go into Oklahoma City to play the powerful Thunder. They are led by one of the World Basketball Championships heroes Kevin Durrant. It should be an easy victory for the Thunder. The Jazz will fall to 0-3 proving once again how meaningless the Jazz's 8-0 preseason record was. Both this game and "The Walking Dead" will be scary. The difference is that "The Walking Dead" is intentionally and entertainingly scary.
Although Halloween is lame, even a lame holiday deserves some good music. Here's a selection of good Halloweenish music.
A classic by an upcoming Top 50 themusicaddict artist:
Any Oingo Boingo song could be a Halloween song, here's a couple of the more obvious ones:
More classics:
I should be back with more of my Top 50 artists tomorrow.
This is my friend's book, he's drawing attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will not get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Hello,
I watched a couple of episodes of "Smallville" last night. As much I want to like the show, I can't quite commit to that. The stories are sort of stupid. But the thing that drives me crazy the most is when will Clark and Lois finally get together? Come on we all know that they are going to get together. I know they are delaying that to build drama, but the result is actually the opposite. I haven't watched this show for a few years and I have a feeling this boring story line has been going on for a long time. The Teri Hatcher/ Dean Cain "Lois and Clark" was so much better of a show. A lot of that was because Lois and Clark got together a lot quicker. Also the stories were better. However Erika Durrance is probably the most gorgeous woman on television now. (See above.)
More of the Top 50:
34) Violent Femmes: They are down 3 notches from my first Top 50 and I have 56 of their songs on my iTunes. This is the band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I did see them in concert in the 90's and they were pretty good. I did a blog on their amazing first CD a couple of weeks ago, I'll forgo having a lot of their videos on this blog entry.
This is probably my favorite Violent Femmes song:
Another Femmes classic, the lyrics are less than wholesome.
33) White Stripes: They are down 4 notches and I have 56 of their songs on my iTunes. Jack and Meg White are not siblings, but they are actually a divorced couple. Jack has moved on and got remarried and formed two other bands. Meg just must be chilling as I haven't heard much from her lately. I think the White Stipes are still active. However their last tour was cut short by Meg's health.
Here's their best song:
Here's their live cover of a blues classic, Son House's "Death Letter Blues":
"Hotel Yorba"
32) Dixie Chicks: They are down 12 notches from my first Top 50 and I have 40 of their songs on my iTunes. The Dixie Chicks are the band that hates George Bush. Apparantally singer Natalie Maines isn't ready to go to back work yet, so the other two members formed their own band, Court Yard Hounds. Whether you agree with her politics or not Natalie Maines has one of the most amazing voices. I saw them in concert and they were okay. They played their most energetic song, "Goodbye Earl" and it seemed the show dragged after that. But they have so many amazing songs. Here are a few of them:
"You Were Mine", this song is truly heartbreaking.
"Goodbye Earl"
There weren't too many videos to choose from for this song; "Baby Hold On".
"A Cold Day in July":
The very angry "Not Ready To Make Nice":
Upcoming in no particular order: The self called "baldie", an amazing rocker, and the greatest reggae singer ever.
This is my friend's book, he's drawing attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Hello,
If you are a big Led Zeppelin fan like myself, you are interested in the work of its former members. Well Robert Plant recently released a CD named after an his old pre Led Zeppelin band "Band of Joy". Quick review: You can skip this CD, it sucks. It's something I never expected to say about Plant's music. I also checked out Phoenix, who Rolling Stone has a big article about in their newest issue. They are okay and have a very 70's vibe to them. I listened to several of their songs and their songs kept on reminding me of a certain band. It took me several songs to make me realize they sound a lot like Styx.
Although I have watched "American Idol" for many years I just realized that none of their contestants are in my new Top 50. If it would be anybody it would be Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and maybe someday Crystal Bowersox. Other potential Top 50 artists, both Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson could possibly be in my Top 50 someday. Of course Hudson would have to make more and better music.
Definitely who'll never be in my Top 50: Adam Lamebert, Kris Allen or Lee DeWyze. I'm waiting for DeWyze's CD to be released and to bomb worse than Kris Allen's first CD. It's appropriate it's coming out around Thanksgiving, because it's going to have the same effect as tryptophan. I like Lee DeWyze, I just don't think he's the type of person who will be a superstar. He has a great voice, but no charisma or stage presence. Maybe there's a reason why he was working in a paint store.
Here we go, more of my Top 50:
38) Alanis Morrissette: She's down two notches from my first Top 50 list. I have 93 of her songs on my iTunes. The mother-to-be has had many great songs, although she gets most of the credit for "Jagged Little Pill". I've seen her in concert twice. The first time when "JLP" had just come out and then later when she was a more established star. I'm going to bypass some of her more obvious songs.
Okay some of the lyrics for the following songs are stupid, but I love this song.
One of the lesser known, but just as good as her more famous songs, from "Jagged Little Pill":
37) Billy Joel: He's the same on this list as last time and I have 128 of his songs on my iTunes. I've seen him in concert four or five times over the years and he's a great performer. His band rocks and he has a very good personality. I saw him in concert when "Pressure" was his new song and just a couple of years ago. I hope that someday he can settle down and find himself a good woman. I also apologize for the quality of most of the Billy Joel videos, most of his youtube videos are shockingly bad.
The following video is making me wish I could go see Billy Joel in concert tonight. Honestly there are just so many great Billy Joel songs, I could fill up several blogs with all of his great songs.
The 70's strike on one of Billy Joel's best ballads, "Honesty".
Two more:
36) Jimi Hendrix, the Seattle rock legend. He has moved up 3 spots on my Top 50 and I have 21 of his songs on my iTunes. He died while I was still a wee lad, but obviously he had a big influence. His amazing music is still rocking the world. Again these videos are less than desirable. They don't capture the power of his music.
"Crosstown Traffic":
He has many classic rock songs, but this is one of his most beautiful songs:
35) Duran Duran: They are down 5 notches from my first Top 50 and I have 43 of their songs on my iTunes. I remember them during their 80's hey day, truly one of the first MTV superstar bands. I also remember them during their 90's rebound. I saw them in concert during their 90's rebound and they were pretty good. They had Terrance Trent D'arby open for them. It was definitely a night of nostalgia.
This is one of my favorite of their songs:
I have this one on my blog if only for the unintentional comedic value:
Now clean your minds out with the real version which you must turn it up as loud as you can:
Now back to Duran Duran and one of the sexiest videos ever: "Hungry Like The Wolf". Everything about this song/video is amazing. It makes me miss MTV back when they showed videos and were culturally relevant.
Here's another Duran Duran classic:
Upcoming band hints: a band from Wisconsin (really?), a band that features a brother and sister or are they a divorced couple?, a band with an amazing singer that does not like George Bush (that could probably be several bands) and a "baldie" as she calls herself.
This is my friend's book, he's drawing attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Hello,
Yesterday I wondered about what makes John Mayer so popular with the ladies. I have another question, the cover for the next Rolling Stone is Conan O'Brien, why? I don't get that either. He's not that funny. He's fighting with his old network over a specific kind of bear skit. If you've seen his show you know what I'm talking about. It's just not that funny, he's not that funny. I watched his show a few times over the years and I laughed rarely. In fact I'm surprised he still has a show. He, like John Mayer, is popular without seemingly any rationale.
Here's the cover:
I talked to my female informant about Conan O'Brien's appeal. She says he's "goofy" and "girls like guys that make them laugh". Ok, I get that. But then she surprised me as in a way she finds him "attractive". Um, okay. Again women make no sense to me. Neither does Conan's popularity.
Overall this looks like an extremely lame issue of Rolling Stone. Why are they talking to Bill Gates about Global Warming? Are they next going to talk to Jenna Jameson about acting skills? Are they going to talk to Karl Rove and Dick Cheney about honesty? Come on Rolling Stone! Maybe I should write a whole blog entry about bad article ideas. Other lame articles include one about Lil Wayne, yet another lame over rated rapper. An article about Phoenix, yawn? That's the French band not the American city. Finally an article about the long-time unfunny "Doonesbury" comic strip. Thankfully they do have a review of the new Taylor Swift CD. I won't have to use the whole issue as toilet paper.
The Jazz are in mid-season form, they lost 110-88 to the Denver Nuggets last night in Denver. They start out 0-1 and play another 0-1 team tonight at the Energy Solutions Arena. The winner of this game will have their first victory of the season. I watched about the first quarter of the game, that's about all I could watch. I don't know what it is but I just can't sit down and watch a basketball game straight through anymore. It just doesn't hold my interest like it use to. Of course it doesn't help when the Jazz were clearly out of sync all night.
I'm gearing up for the big Oregon-USC game Saturday night. I'll be cheering for USC because I'm a big fan of theirs, but also they could be knocking off the number 1 team in the nation. A USC victory would help the BCS Bowl chances of TCU, Boise State and my alma mater Utah. However Oregon is a very tough team and as of now are very deserving of the #1 ranking. I watched Oregon destroy UCLA. USC can win but it will be a battle.
From a recent Sports Illustrated, here's some frightening stats about the Oregon offense. First to slow down Oregon's awesome offense, many teams have had players fake injuries and stay on the field. Through the first 5 games of their season, Oregon had 23 of 31 touchdowns take 1:49 or less. Then 12 touchdowns were scored in a minute or less. But the most amazing stat of all is that Oregon scored 31 touchdowns in 5 games. That puts Oregon at 36 points a game just on touchdowns alone. Now add extra points, field goals and any scoring the defense does.
Even though I'm a humongous BYU fan, it will be good seeing the Utes in the Pac 12 next year. I think they'll start out being one of the Top 3 or 4 teams immediately. USC, Oregon and Oregon State are probably going to be tough most years. Stanford and Washington may or may not join their ranks. But as for the rest of the teams, I see mediocrity at best. I think Utah would beat UCLA, Colorado (also joining soon), Washington State and California pretty easily.
Although the Pac-10 is down this year, but that being said Utah is leaving the MWC just in time. If TCU really joins the Big East, that would leave Boise State as the only national football respected team in the MWC. They won't have any national respected basketball teams. Big East conference be careful what you wish for. TCU would give your conference immediate legitimacy (and let's be honest you need it desperately as the Big East is the weakest of all BCS conferences) , but you might get sick of losing to them every year. TCU doesn't just beat teams, they dominate teams. It will be a battle for the ages when TCU invades Utah on November 6th.
Continuing the Top 50:
41) Poison: They are down 28 notches from the first poll, and I have 38 Poison songs on my iTunes. Looking back I'm not sure how they rated so high on my first list. I thought they were a band I really liked, until I listened to their Greatest Hits CD. I then realized they really only have about 5 or 6 great songs. They also have a lot of dreck. They helped themselves when they released a CD of covers: "Poison'd". They picked some very solid covers and perform them well. But when one thinks of Poison, the song most people think of is this one:
Nickelback has a similar themed song as this, except their songs is the much more inferior song titled "Shakin' Hands". This however is the much superior "Fallen Angel".
Here's a couple from "Poison'd". This of course is the David Bowie classic, his best song.
Here's their version of a Rolling Stones classic, "Dead Flowers".
40) Meat Loaf: He moves up 7 notches from my first Top 50, and I have 52 Meat Loaf songs on my iTunes. I've never seen him in concert, but I'd like too. I bet it's a big theatrical show. Meat Loaf has now branched out into acting. I enjoyed his cell phone commercial of a few years ago. It was so over the top it was entertaining.
Here's another one, don't die Meat. He needs his band and back up singers to carry the weight of a lot of the singing. While watching this video I thought ol' Meat was about to have a heart attack.
Here's some anime for you, "Everything Is Louder Than Everything Else":
Is that you Angelina Jolie? "Rock 'n' Roll Dreams Come True":
39) Paramore: They are the fourth debut in my Top 50. I have 34 Paramore songs on my iTunes. Hayley sings these songs with such power and I was afraid that she wouldn't be able to pull it off live. Thankfully I was wrong, she has an amazing voice both live and on CD. She's also got a bit of sass that adds to the band. There's no doubt she's the star of the band, but she does have a solid band behind her.
"Crushcrushcrush" This song kicks butt!!!
Hayley's amazing voice comes out in this live performance, "Pressure". This is a song I've never heard of before. You sing it girl.
This is my friend's book, he's trying to draw attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Hello,
On Taylor Swift's new CD "Speak Now" purportedly the following song is about John Mayer. It's a very angry song.
Now their relationship, whatever that was is over, and she's singing about it. She's not a big fan of him any longer. She sings, "Don't you think I was too young to be messed with, the girl with the dress cried the whole way home." Here's my question, what do women see in John Mayer? He's been with all these beautiful, amazing women but from my perspective he's sort of a jerk.
I asked a girl I worked with about Mayer's appeal. She said (paraphrasing) "he's tall, has an amazing voice and he's a jerk". She continued "he's fun for a little while, but when a girl is ready to settle down she'll find a nice guy". That just confounds me even more about women.
Also if you are trying to decide whether to buy the new Taylor Swift CD or the new Sugarland CD, I'd say that the Sugarland CD is the one to buy. Nothing wrong with Taylor Swift as a singer, but she's just not the singer that Jennifer Nettles is.
Boise State won again last night in a strange Tuesday night game. That's a wierd day to play a game, but I love Tuesday night football. Anyway BSU beat La. Tech 49-20. Kellen Moore had another quietly consistent game. He completed 20 of 29 passes for 299 yards. He also threw for 2 TD's, 1 interception and caught a pass for a receiving touchdown. BSU and their occasional trick plays will always keep teams on their toes. BSU running back Doug Martin ran the ball 21 times for 150 yards.
Although they won by 29 points, it probably wasn't enough "style points" for the lame BCS. I like the fact that BSU coach Chris Peterson doesn't run up the score on opponents though. I'm sure if the #1 and #2 teams lose, the BCS will still find some way to keep the Broncos at #3. I hate the BCS. I love that the big boys have to design a system that protects them. Oh yeah, that's the American way. The big boys being the 6 so-called power conferences. I just hope the greed and stupidity of the big boys doesn't ruin college football. Of course a playoff would take care of a lot of these problems, but the big boys wouldn't make as much money that way. And as with any corporate America system it's a lot more about money than the product.
Also the Miami Heat's big 3 debuted last night. Not only did James, Wade, Bosh and the Heat lose, but they only scored 30 points in the first half. From the way they've played so far I don't think they are going to win the NBA title this year. They have too much bad karma to win. Yes I realize it's only 1 game, but they've had several injuries and an eventful preseason. I'd prefer to see them win it over the Lakers though. I'm tired of hearing about the Lakers and Kobe Bryant.
Last night I watched another good episode of "No Ordinary Family". I love the stories. Some stories only run 1 or 2 episodes but they are always resolved logically. Some stories stretch over several episodes. There's a good mix of humorous and serious situations. It's just a good show. It's kept my interest since the first episode. Not every show is like that though, I've given up on "The Event" and "Undercovers". The first because of the stupid story line and how it insults my intelligence. The second show, "Undercovers", there just isn't enough to make it must watch TV for me.
themusicaddict's Top 50 continued
45) Sarah Brightman (She's down 13 from my the first Top, I have 68 of her songs on my iTunes.) I saw her in concert and unfortunately she wasn't as good as I expected. She has had plenty of Broadway experience so I was hoping for more. However she picks good songs and has one of the most amazing voices ever.
That's an amazing song but she also is on this list because of the note that she holds. See above. Check out the note starting at 3:24 throughout the rest of the song. Wow that's just phenomenal. She's amazing. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the part she plays in "Phantom" with her in mind. I also like this live rock version.
The above is just another one of her amazing songs. As you've probably noticed, some bands I only have one video for. Whereas other artists I have two or three songs for. The ones I have more videos for, I feel are under appreciated and I'm trying to get the word out. What a beautiful voice.
44) Sugarland: They are the third debut on this list, I have 29 of their songs on my iTunes. I've never seen them in concert, but I would love to. Although the last time they visited Salt Lake City, they only played for about 75 minutes. That's not a long enough concert for people's hard earned money. I'd love to hear Jennifer Nettles sing live though. The best voice I've ever heard live in concert so far is Wynonna Judd. Her voice is so amazing. Yes amazing voices go a long ways in determining who I like.
Any thing that's about that amazing voice, it must include this song, "Stay":
I also absolutely love this song, "Baby Girl":
43) Whitesnake: They are up 1 notch and I have 35 of their songs on my iTunes. I'm glad I investigated that as I found about 15 CD's that I didn't have imported. I also want to add their live double CD set "Standing In The Shadow of the Blues" to my collection. Someday! I saw them in concert back in the day and they were okay. They are still on the list because of that amazing live CD, "Live In the Shadow of the Blues". David Coverdale also has an amazing voice, and it has held up after all these years.
Ok this could be called Led Zeppelin lite, but still an amazing song and an amazing voice:
This one is a little off the beaten path, "Crying In The Rain":
42) Blondie: They are down 1 spot and I have 18 of their songs on my iTunes. This was my favorite band growing up. My other two favorite bands growing up were Cheap Trick and ELO. neither are on my Top 50. I might have had just a little bit of a crush on Debbie Harry back in the day. I don't think Blondie got enough respect for how good or influential of a band they were. They were the first band that had a hit with rapping in it in "Rapture". I'll forgive them for that, they didn't know what they were doing.
Here's another one, "The Tide Is High":
"Atomic":
"One Way Or Another":
themusicaddict
This is my friend's book, he's trying to draw attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
This is my friend's book, he's trying to draw attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Hello,
Boise State will be playing high scoring La. Tech tonight in Boise. The game will be on ESPN2. I know tonight is the beginning of the NBA season, but the NBA is the league where the regular season matters little. In college football, every game matters. That's one of the things that makes it the most entertaining of all sports. College football is at least 10 times more exciting than the NFL.
This is Pat Forde's column, he writes a weekly college football article for espn.go.com. He's been on Boise State's bus all season. In this week's dispatch he imagines a BCS nightmare scenario that would leave TCU, Utah and BSU as the last three unbeatens. I would love that. Read his always entertainment column here:
As I previously wrote the NBA kicks off with 3 games tonight of varying interest. 1) Miami-Boston: This is the debut of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade for their first season together on the Heat. Also the Shaq experiment begins in Boston. I'm predicting that will end badly like the last few places he played. 2) Phoenix vs. Portland, two mid-conference playoff teams. In the off season Portland signed Wesley Matthews for over $30 million. That's a deal that Bill Simmons calls one of the worst off season deals. 3) Houston and the injury plagued Yao Ming visiting the two time defending champs Lakers. (I have a hard time writing that as I hate the Lakers.) Ming for someone being so big, he's really soft and fragile. He'll only be able to play every other game due to his injury issues.
The only player more fragile is the overrated Carlos Boozer. He currently will miss about 6 to 8 more weeks after he "tripped at home". Seriously how many times have you tripped at home and not seriously injured yourself? Thank goodness he no longer plays for the Jazz, or should I say no longer sits on the bench injured for the Jazz. He's the Tony Romo of the NBA. He has pretty stats, but no fans of their team want the ball in his hands in crunch time. It's not a coincedence neither has won a title in their respective sport.
The Jazz start play on the road Wednesday at Denver, who features the overrated Carmelo Anthony. The Jazz return home to play Phoenix on Wednesday, a team that's about as good as the Jazz. Next the Jazz go on the road to play the tough Oklahoma City team on Halloween. Fill in your scary headline here. That will be a very tough game for the Jazz. I just wish them winning all 8 games in the preseason actually meant something for the regular season. Go Jazz!
Quick review, I listened to Taylor Swift's new CD "Speak Now" twice yesterday. I'd give it about a B. At 14 songs it has two or three too many songs on it, those extra songs water down the CD a bit. There are several good songs on this CD, it's at least worth a listen.
Today's drive music is the Neil Young CD, "Sleeps With Angels", just an amazing CD. This CD isn't for everyone, but if you are a Neil Young fan you need to pick it up. Neil Young will be coming later in the Top 50. I would have at least one of his songs on this blog, but he doesn't have many on youtube.com. He must have his lawyers busy at work.
Another amazing CD is Lauryn Hill's "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill". She won't be later in this Top 50 as her work has been spotty to say the least. However this CD is without a doubt amazing. Here's a couple of songs:
I think anyone that has kids will appreciate the following song:
Here we go with the themusicaddict's Top 50 artists with tiebreakers and emphasis being who would I rather see in concert. See my first blog from yesterday for artists that dropped out and bands that almost made this top 50.
50) Three Days Grace. They are one of the 9 debuts on this list. (16 songs on my iTunes.) They are powered into the top 50 by opening for Nickelback last week in Salt Lake City. While their live performance is a bit off, they still have several amazing songs. I look forward to this band maturing and getting better and their concerts will be better. I think they are close to headliner status. They are certainly more deserving of that than the vastly overrated Nickleback.
49) Whitney Houston, down 22 spots. (70 songs on my iTunes.) Marrying Bobby Brown won't help you and disappearing from the scene for long stretches of time are not good career moves. I saw her in concert back in the day and she was less than amazing. As long as I make a Top 50, she will probably always be on it. Quite simply she has the best voice of my generation (sorry Mariah) and several amazing songs.
48) Johnny Cash, down 8 spots. (104 songs on my iTunes.) I wasn't able to see Johnny Cash when he was alive. It also took me until my mid-30's to truly appreciate him for the artist he is. Cash is an acquired taste. Most people probably know "Ring of Fire" and "A Boy Named Sue", but he has several lesser known songs that are just as good. Here's a youtube video for "A Boy Named Sue" and then one of his lesser known, but just as good, songs.
47) Counting Crows (the second debut). I have 42 of their songs on my iTunes. I'm not sure how they weren't on my original Top 50. Many great songs, a charismatic singer and very smart lyrics. Here's their best song by a long ways, this is a Top 500 song.
46) Bob Seger (Down 1). He and the Silver Bullet Band have 34 songs on my iTunes. His touring days are past him. He went on tour about 5 years ago, but didn't come anywhere near Utah. He's best probably best known for "Night Moves". But my favorite song of Seger's is the following:
Just a fyi, live Bob Seger song's on youtube are pretty low quality. I love the following song:
This is my friend's book, he's trying to draw attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Hello,
I watched the first half of the Dallas-New York game. In spite of Dallas getting 3 New York turnovers and a punt return for a touchdown, they are still down at halftime 24-20. While Wade Phillips deserves his share of blame, Dallas is just a bad football team. Maybe an egotistical owner shouldn't also be the GM? Just a thought.
This team needs to be blown up and start over. Tony Romo is injured and possibly will miss significant time. Reports Tuesday morning have him out 6-8 weeks. Never have I had a team that had the starting quarterback get injured and cared less. This is a classic when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Romo is a mediocre quality quarterback, he would make a good back up quarterback. When the offense can get by without Romo, it looked markedly better. I don't wish bad things for Romo. However he's vastly overrated and I wish he would be on another team.
Obviously their second string quarterback, Jon Kitna, isn't the long-term answer. He's a solid back-up. Dallas should take this chance to see if their third string quarterback, Stephen McGee, has a future in the NFL. Not this game, but next game. Give him a whole week of practice and give him the keys to the offense until he proves he isn't worthy of it. If it doesn't work out you know you need to get a quarterback in free agency or the draft.
Dallas needs to start at the top and trickle down from there. Jones needs to be an owner like the Patriots Bob Kraft. It's more important for Kraft that the Patriots win than he gets the credit. He hired a great coach: Bill Belichick. He's a complete jerk, but he knows his football. One doesn't see Belichick's teams having mental breakdowns, too many penalties and they play at a high level every season. Even when Tom Brady was injured most of the year, the Patriots still finished 11-5.
I'd had enough at halftime and stopped watching the game, it's obvious Dallas isn't going to win this game. Jerry please fire Wade and then fire yourself, please! 1-15 here we come. Boy I can't wait until they play Detroit. That will be the NFL version of the Toilet Bowl.
I had a couple of minutes to flip over to "The Event", this show has officially jumped the shark. I did finally figure out what the event was though, it was me turning off the TV. Most of the characters I just don't care about. I like Blair Underwood as the President, but that's about it. Sarah Roemer is enjoyable to look at, but most of the main actors are lame, Laura Innes? Please!
I'm going to watch "Hawaii-Five 0" tonight. The stories are not the greatest, but I like the characters. From the main detective, Steve McGarrett, to his quirky sister. Also there's Grace Park, as Kono Kalakaua, is great and not just because she looks amazing in a bikini. Danny "Danno" Williams is hilarious. Also Daniel Dae Kim, as Chin Ho Kelly, makes up a solid fourth main character. The show has a very good sense-of-humor. With humor and great characters I can overlook the occasional story lapse. It's not going to win any Emmy's, but it's probably not trying to. There's a lot less worse ways of spending a hour on a Monday night.
Monday night's episode was another good episode. Definitely check it out. Remember that "The Walking Dead" starts on AMC on Halloween.
This is my friend's book, he's trying to draw attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Welcome to themusicaddict's blog #644.
The following song brings back a lot of bad memories, one bad thing about listening to angry music:
Here's a slightly happier song, Tift Merritt's "Mixtape". This doesn't sound like a Tift Merritt song.
Various NFL thoughts first. Hey ESPN and national press, Tampa Bay is 4-2, when is the respect and the coverage going to begin? Obviously they aren't going to win the Super Bowl, but they are doing a lot better than expected. I would have loved to see the highlight of Freeman to Williams winning touchdown pass this morning while exercising.
It's time for Brett Favre to retire. At the end of the season you ask? No, right now. The 41 year old and very durable quarterback has finally been affected by age too much to overcome. He looks old and rusty. His strategy of forcing the ball in a tight spot is working even less than it use to.
Overall his stats this season are okay. He has completed 104 of 179 passes for 1,191 yards. He has completed 58.1% of his passes which isn't terrible. He only has thrown for 7 touchdowns. Unfortunately he has also thrown 10 interceptions and been sacked 14 times. His quarterback rating (there's a wikipedia.org page if you want to know more) is 68. A perfect quarterback rating is 158.3 yards. Without knowing much about the quarterback rating, obviously he's nowhere close to where he could be. But the more important stat is that Minnesota is 2-4.
Yesterday's game is a good microcosm of his whole season. He was 16 for 29, a 55.2 completion %. His quarterback rating was dreadful at only 50.4%. He threw 1 touchdown pass, but had 3 interceptions. Not only that but Minnesota lost.
Brett it's time for the 'Ol Gunslinger to hang it up. You need to let Minnesota prepare for the future, to see if Tavaris Jackson can be the quarterback you can no longer be. Clean up your mess with the former Jets employee and apologize to your wife. While your NFL career is pretty much over, maybe your marriage has a chance?
Update: Now according to espn.com he has two fractures in his ankle and he's questionable for this weekend's game against the Patriots. Even if he can play does Minnesota really want an even more ineffective Brett Favre?
Speaking of needing to retire, Wade Phillips it's time to man up and step down. (No Jerry, Norv Turner isn't a viable new head coach either. His Chargers dropped to 2-5 yesterday with their third straight loss.) Even if Dallas wins tonight, which they won't, you won't make the playoffs. A win tonight would just delay the inevitable, it's time to retire. Not to just quit from the Cowboys, but to retire from the whole NFL. With old outdated people like you and Norv Turner, you are taking up the spaces where younger coaches could begin to move up. Younger coaches with newer and possibly better ideas. Norv and Wade, it's not like you will be the head coach of a Super Bowl winning team anyway.
After he has mercifully quit or been fired, this is the Wade Phillips I will think of:
I couldn't find the perplexed look that he uses so much, but this is the closest picture to that I could find. If you watch Monday Night Football tonight, you will see the perplexed look tonight several times. Depending on how the game goes, I'll be watching at least some of it. If it's going at least decent I probably won't be watching "The Event" or "Hawaii Five-0". If I so desire I can always catch those on Comcast On Demand.
Here's the beginning of the roll out of themusicaddict's Top 50. The key component of this Top 50 is who would I rather see in concert. That can include in person, on TV or even on-line in these modern days. First of all, the bands who came close to being on the Top 50. In other words the close but no cigar bunch. A lot of the following are young bands or bands that still have some gas in the tank and may be in future Top 50s. Those bands are Soundgarden, Morissey, Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Taylor Swift and Rush.
Nine bands have completely fallen out of the Top 50. Here they are and in parenthesis is what number they were in the first themusicaddict Top 50. I'll also include why they've fallen out.
1) The Eagles (22). I've actually seen them in concert and they were good. They played for about 2.5 hours and they played most of their good songs. However their music isn't the kind that rocks. A truly great concert has to rock, that's not the Eagles style of music.
2) Garth Brooks (25) I've seen him in concert twice. The first time he was the opener and he was amazing. He ran around the stage and sang a lot of amazing songs. His band was good and he pulled you into the concert. The second time I saw him he sang a song, stopped and received applause, repeat about 15 times. That stopping and starting can kill what could have been a good concert. It's one of the many reasons why Nickelback will never be a good band. That show was when Brooks was close to the top of his popularity, but it was a boring performance. He has gone away for a few years. The last I heard was that he has a show in Las Vegas. It's just him by himself singing with only an acoustic guitar. I have no interest in seeing him in a concert like that.
3) Steely Dan (28) A band that has a lot of good songs. But they have a lot of jamming in their shows from what I hear. After about a minute I get very bored by that.
4) Peter Gabriel (33) see above. Also his latest CD was a collection of covers, "Scratch My Back". His interpretation of a lot of those songs is boring and the kind of song that doesn't work in concert. If he's playing even a few of those songs in concert, that would suck any life out of the show.
5) Elton John (38) I've seen him in concert too and he was okay. He has a good mix of rock and pop songs. Unfortunately he hasn't had any new hits in a long time, so it's an oldies show now.
6) Alabama (42) A band that has broken up and before that also had become an oldies act.
7) James Taylor (43) see the above two acts.
8) Pat Benatar (48) ditto
9) BB King (50) I would love to see him in concert. Although he's very old now and his show is quite expensive. In spite of that I would still love to see the old Blues master in person.
This is my friend's book, he's trying to draw attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Hello,
Thanks to my friends at napster.com I listened to Sugarland's new CD "The Incredible Machine" twice last night. I would highly recommend it, it's very good. I also anxiously await both Taylor Swift and Rihanna's new CDs. Taylor Swift's new CD, "Speak Now" will be out October 25th. Yes, that's tomorrow. Rihanna's new CD, "Loud" will be out November 16th. No that will not be tomorrow.
Also starting tomorrow the new themusicaddict's Top 50 will start to roll out. There are 9 new artists in the Top 50 and quite a bit of movement.
This is my friend's book, he's trying to draw attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
Page 84: The only reason I picked up this book is because it's the next monthly choice of the book club I'm going to start going to in November. In no way did I think this book about running of all things would be interesting. I've pleasantly been surprised. This is a gripping story about running and several other things shooting off that. I anticipate I'll be finished with this book easily before Halloween. This is one of the reasons I love book clubs. It forces me to read a book that I would have never read, perhaps I wouldn't even have heard of it.
This is my friend's book, he's trying to draw attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
This is my friend's book, he's trying to draw attention to a book he has written. Check it out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304984697029 He describes the book as: "I've written a novel called “Wilderness” which I'm sending out to agents (think "Calvin and Hobbes" written by Neil Gaiman)" He also says "one who friends the group will get any messages from me, they will just be helping a young aspiring novelist." I think that's a worthy cause.
The Nickelback/Three Days Grace/Buckcherry review is coming sometime today. Quick review Buckcherry was good, not great. Their sound mix was terrible. Almost assuredly Buckcherry will be on themusicaddict's Top 50 bands list which will be coming soon Three Days Grace: a lot of great songs and they were probably the best band of the night. Their sound was good. They quite likely will be in my Top 50 bands. Nickelback are poseurs, wanna be's and were way too loud. Their show was lowlighted by Kroeger's monotonous annoying repeated screeching. They shouldn't be headlining and were worse than I thought they'd be. I wasn't expecting very much either. Read this blog and I think you can tell whether they'll be in my Top 50 or not.
Buckcherry went on stage right on time, at 6:15. They played for a hour, until 7:15. Buckcherry is lead by singer Josh Todd. I don't know any of the other band member's names but does it matter? Todd lead the band through 11 songs. The shirtless, tattoo covered, dancing whirling dervish was in fine form. I wouldn't say he's the best singer in the world. However his voice has a unique personality.
The sound for Buckcherry was atrocious, muddy and the musicians were too loud in the mix.
Buckcherry started off their set with "Talk To Me" and "Rescue Me", two okay songs. Then because they are touring behind their new CD "All Night Long", they have to play some songs from it. (An earlier CD of theirs "15" is much superior to the more generic "All Night Long".) They played the lead single "All Night Long" which is an usual rock song about Buckcherry's favorite subject.
Next it was time for some of the best Buckcherry songs as they rocked us with "Everything" and "Next To You". Todd introduced the latter song by asking "Who's sexy?" themusicaddict raised his hand to the embarrassment of his son. The next song was "Lit Up" which is a good song and has an incredibly catchy chorus. But when there are many young people in the audience should Todd continue to sing the cocaine refrain over and over again?
Following another song from the new CD, "These Things". Buckcherry is a weird band, they bounce from a cliche rock song to a great ballad. "These Things" is one of their great ballads. But due to the terrible sound, the song sounds much better on the CD than live. Then back to another cliche rock song "It's A Party". Then yet another song from the new CD, "Dead" with Todd going on a rant about his generation isn't dead. I wasn't aware that anyone said they were.
For their final two songs of the night the sound got better for some reason. They played probably their two most popular songs. Even before I listened much to Buckcherry, I knew the following two songs. Those two songs of course are "Sorry" and "Crazy Woman". These two songs perfectly describe the Buckcherry dichotomy. "Sorry" is a sweet and sincere song. It's one of the best power ballads of the last several years. Buckcherry didn't try to do anything special with it, which is good in this case.
Then the other side of the Buckcherry dichotomy, they played a very crude song with actions to match. Their set ended with "Crazy Woman", yes I realize that's not the real title of the song. I just hate the other word and the terrible language throughout the whole song. It was an extended version of the song, with a tag of Billy Squier's "The Stroke". Todd included pantomiming to that song. Again the lowest common denominator I hate about rock music. It's all the cliches and stupidity of rock music that drive me crazy. A little creativity please.
But overall a pretty good set, then a 15 minute break before Three Days Grace took the stage. Buckcherry has been the music of choice for my drive music today.
For me, Three Days Grace was sort of the wild card of the night. I'd heard a lot of their songs and they have several good songs. With their many great songs tehy almost are ready for the next step to headliner status. They played from 7:30-8:25.
First their sound was pretty good and not too loud. The singer, Adam Grontier, and band were equal in the mix. Three Days Grace would have been better if they maintained the momentum once they built it.
Three Days Grace set started with one of their guitarist in the spotlight playing the start of "I Hate Everything About You". The intro of that song is very reminiscent of Alice In Chains "Heaven Beside You". That's a great song which lead into another great song, "Break", followed by a third great song "The Good Life". Grontier has charisma and an amazing voice as the band was sounding tight.
He took a break to talk about their most recent CD, the about year old "Life Starts Now". He urged people to get the CD anyway they could "rip, burn or steal". Adam your record company isn't going to like that.
Next was "World So Cold" and another one of their amazing songs, "Pain". Again they have some pretty amazing songs, but they are trying too hard to get the crowd revved up. Adam, that's something you do with your music not with your words. Usually I like when the band talks to the audience, but Three Days Grace went too far. I was thinking "shut up already".
Their next song was one of the few lowlights of their set, "Home". There's a droning sound at the start of the song, I'm not sure what the purpose of that was. I'm sure it was intentional but why. They had the audience participate in a "sing battle", also known as a momentum killer. Grontier explained very helpfully about how the sing battle would work. He would sing something, then half the audience would sing the same thing. Then he would sing something and the other half of the audience would sing it. He then had us sing "whoa" extended. There were just too many stops and starts for the set to reach blast off. They were so close though.
They then sang "Last to Know", just one of their many great songs.
They closed out their set with "Never Too Late", "Riot" and "Animal I Have Become". During "Riot", Grontier went into the audience trying to get people to stand up, that's emblematic of the stops and starts of their set. That's something they need to work out in order to be a quality headliner. I was about to say of being a headliner, but when Nickelback is a headliner apparently it's not that tough.
Overall a pretty good set, but they need to take out some of the stops and starts. In that extra time they could have sang a couple more songs. I would suggest "Wake Up" and "Just Like You". I also liked how their songs feel lived in, in other words someone has lived the lyrics. It's also nice when not every song is about sex and there's not an overabundance of f bombs. One thing I didn't like about Three Days Grace is they are very much a geography band, what I mean by that is they kept on screaming "Salt Lake City". Thanks I know where I am. Three Days Grace songs have been playing through my mind all day.
Nickelback: here's also a good idea, before you go on stage don't play songs by bands that are better than you. Four songs were played a song by AC/DC and Motley Crue each. They also played Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" and Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me". The last song sounds amazing even after all these years. Nickelback doesn't have any songs that are equal of any of the above songs.
Last but least, it was time for the headliner, whether they are worthy of that status or not: Nickleback. They "played" from 8:45 to 10:35ish. They also have too many stops and starts to gain a lot of momentum. It's almost like they seemingly sabotaged their set.
The lights were on and then some fireworks went off, alerting us their set was about to start. That was actually one of their most creative things of the night. Then they did the following:
The above video is a snapshot of their set, well play it much louder than necessary to get the full effect.
Nickelback took the stage to a 2/3rds full stadium, I'm being generous. First of all they are way too loud. Yes I know of the rock and roll axiom, "If it's too loud, you're too old". But it reminds me of the modern movies that have very little story. Too cover it up they have a lot of explosions. I think that is what Nickelback is going for too. They are trying to disguise their lameness.
The first played "Burn It To The Ground" which is one of their best songs. They followed that uwith one of their more derivative songs "Flat on the Floor". Next they played another one of their good songs, "Photograph". Again it's so loud that it's hard to focus on the music. I think they threw in a bit of "Savin' Me", but their songs sound so much alike it's hard to tell. Next they played one of their lowest common denominator songs, "Shakin' Hands", an incredibly unoriginal song.
Then the Chad Kroeger stupidity began as he said "time to start drinkin'". He told us he was drinking "Jack and coke". This was a very paint by the performance concert and this was just one of the many instances of that. Kroeger trying to play the role of "party dude", he just can't. Also later he was telling us about how he was partying with Anthrax and Slayer the night before. Which even if it is true I found laughable, the Justin Beiber of rockers partying with some of the legends of the hard core scene.
Then the lowest common denominator theme continues with not subtle videos of beautiful women eating bananas and lollipops. Seriously? How stupid is that? Is that jr. high or elementary humor? That of course led to "Something In Your Mouth", again not very creative.
Chad Kroeger is just not a front man and he's a sexist idiot. He would go off on these tangents in which we couldn't understand much of what he was saying. Not that I would count that as too much of a loss. I don't want to know his shallow thoughts. He also would randomly screech out things, which with the sound so loud was painful.
The 7th song of their set is "This Afternoon". Again another one of their good songs. But the volume is so loud, it's almost painful.
Following that song all the members of Nickelback moved to the center of the stage. The stage was cool. You can see it in the above video, although the band referred to it as a "penis". The random, painful screeching continues. He tells us about the dive bars he frequents. The jukeboxes in those kind of bars play the same two songs a lot. The first being George Thorogood's "Bad To The Bone". The other song they play is "this song": Garth Brooks "Friends In Low Places". This song actually adds some melody into their set and the crowd got into it. However they only played about a minute of the song.
They next played "If Today Was Your Last Day" with Nickelback's corny sentimentality emerging. Then Kroeger screeches, "Thank You" unneccesarily loud. He reminds me of the obnoxious little brother wanting to be cool as his big brother or Marc Zuckerburg without facebook. They started playing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'". (I had stopped believing long ago.) Instead of playing the whole song and building some momentum, they only play about a minute of that song.
More of Kroeger's needless screeching "Salt Lake City!" Oh good another geography band. They followed that with "Rock Star", but the non Chad Kroeger sung parts can't be understood. Turn down the volume if you want your audience to enjoy the show! Time for more screeching, "Scream if you want to be a rock star".
Nickelback returned to the main stage, Chad desperately trying to be cool. Then more stupidity was forthcoming with Jerry and the cannons. They shoot out containers full of beer. We also experienced more of Jerry's talents with his "old school moves" played to "Everybody Dance Now". Kroeger continues his assault on our ears with his random screeching.
The bad karoake night continues with Metallica playing in the background as the roadies are shooting the beer cannons. The word "Nickelback" is revolving around the drum stand. Their next song was unintelligible, later I found out the song is called "Animals". Then "Salt Lake City" with the fire pots exploding. That was followed by a pointless 5 minute drum solo. That is about 4.5 minutes too long. If you must have a drum solo do it in the middle of a song, so you won't lose momentum. Tommy Lee did it better 25 years ago and his solo was actually entertaining.
More karoake with a snippet of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell" which led into "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2". Again a shortened version of this song. They play only part of the song, but didn't play the cool solo at the end of the song. On their video screens, they had a picture of a wall. You know if you didn't catch what album the song is from. That tells you what the band thinks of their fans intelligience.
They closed out their set with "I'll Come For You", more screeching, "How You Remind Me", fireworks again and encore. For the encore "Gotta Be Somebody", another shortened version of a classic song "Wanted Dead or Alive", "Someday", screeching of "Salt Lake City", "Figured You Out". Then Kroeger led the crowd in a chant: "I say "Nickel", you say "Back". I think we could have figured that out on our own. Then they closed with excessive fireworks and mercifully left the stage.
This decade's Creed continues to disappoint. They are so not ready to be a headliner. They have several things to work on. First get Chad Kroeger an adult personality or have him shut the hell up. Second lower the volume of the concert. Third, get more quality songs. Fourth, stop screeching. Fifth, a lot more creativity would go a long ways.
A final thought: I've been listening to Buckcherry and Three Days Grace songs all day, but nothing by Nickelback.
