themusicaddict

The Jimmer returns to Utah, Does Jerry Jones really want a winner?

2012-01-29T09:51:00.004-07:00

Hello,

Just some random thoughts today.

Jimmer Fredette returned to Utah last night for the first time as a NBA player and showed why I'm glad the Jazz didn't draft him. Someday he'll find a team that will be a good fit for him and he'll be a decent player. However I certainly don't think he's worthy of being a first round pick. But that's one of the things that makes the Kings the Kings.

Potentially Payton Manning may be on the move from the Colts. If that's true and he's healthy enough I'd like the Cowboys to make a run at him. How many times does Tony Romo have to show that he's not the player to take the Cowboys to the next level before Dallas tries something new? (And please don't make the weak argument that Romo doesn't play defense. New England's defense isn't always the best but Tom Brady always seems to have the Patriots in contention every year.)

If Jerry Jones makes a big move like this it will show that he's serious about having a winner in Dallas. Most of his moves so far haven't shown that. I can't guarantee that signing Manning would work out for the Cowboys, but it would show a little more guts. Most of Jones moves look like they are about maximizing profit. That's fine because that's why people go into business. But then don't tell me you really want a winner when it's been 15 years of mediocrity. I don't really believe any more that Jones cares about having a winner in Dallas. A real winner doesn't pay a lot of money to Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett to be head coach.

The Super Bowl is a week from today and I could care less. Giants-Patriots might be the most boring match up I could think of. The only thing about the Super Bowl I'm looking forward to is Madonna at halftime and the commercials.

Also from checking out Seether on Spotify yesterday I'm not liking them quite a bit. I really like their CD "One Cold Night".

The following video goes without saying:

themusicaddict

Nickelback again?

2012-01-28T13:23:00.006-07:00

Hello,

Sorry for the long absence, it's been just crazy lately. I had all sorts of computer issues at work which took up a lot more time than it should have. I'm thinking the problem has been solved now, I'm hoping things will return to normal.

My son is rapidly approaching his 16th birthday and for his birthday he wants to go see Nickelback. They are coming to Salt Lake City on June 12th. I'm hoping he can go with his friend, but if not I told him I would go with him. I love live rock music, but I think this night I think would be less than fun. First of all 4 bands are playing that night. And the night will end with Nickelback, perhaps one of the worst bands ever.

What does it say about the current rock scene if Nickelback is a headliner? What does it say about Nickelback if Seether has more quality songs than they do? I'm hoping that the sound is a lot better than the last time I saw them in concert. I hope they have also learned how to do a concert. In other words limiting the singing a song, taking a break to engage in some stupidity, singing a song cycle. I love my live music loud, but they were too loud. It seemed like they hadn't ever performed a concert ever. I just have no idea how they turned into the biggest rock band in the world.

The other bands that are playing that night are Bush, Seether and My Darkest Days. Did you know that Bush was still around? I think they broke up and have reunited. "Sixteen Stone" came out 17 year olds, yes before my son was ever born. Now don't get me wrong, Bush is good enough. But if they didn't become superstars before, what's the likelihood that they will now? Here are a couple of my favorite songs of theirs:

"Machinehead"

"Come Down""

"Glycerine":

I've been checking out Seether today on Spotify, they are a lot better than I expected they would be. I really like this song of theirs:

Then My Darkest Days are getting some attention for this song:

Other music notes, I've been really enjoying the music of My Chemical Romance lately. When I make my next Top 50 musicians list, they have a solid chance of making it. Nickelback has no chance at all, either do any of the other bands they are touring with. In honor of MCR, my favorite song of there's right now:

Other great songs: Big Audio Dynamite's "Rush":

Alien Ant Farm's "Smooth Criminal":

Robin Thicke's "Angel On Each Arm":

A couple from Taylor Dayne, first "Don't Rush Me":

My favorite Taylor Dayne song, "I'll Be Your Shelter":

One of the greatest 80's songs:

We The Kings "Check Yes Juliet":

"New York, New York"- Ryan Adams

themusicaddict

More Great Songs!, Boring Super Bowl Match Up

2012-01-24T12:32:00.006-07:00

Hello,

With my school starting a new quarter and extremely slow work computers that has taken me away from blogging. Today I just want to write about the disappointing NFC Championship and show some videos of great songs that I've discovered or rediscovered.

I was so very disappointed by the Giants beating the 49ers in the NFC Championship game. I'm not going to blame the loss on one player. However on a kickoff or punt if you are not going to try to catch the ball, stay far away. The football is shaped weirdly and it bounces unpredictably. That game was so frustrating. I was so looking forward to a 49ers-Patriots Super Bowl. I would have enjoyed the two weeks of hype. But now I don't even know if I'm going to watch the game. The Super Bowl is just a lot less fun when I could care less about either team. This game interests me as little as the college football championship game.

Anyway here are some great songs, thanks to a very lovely lady for bringing this song to my attention.

For those who check out what I listen to on Spotify you know I've been rocking to the Damn Yankees lately.

"High Enough":

"Where You Goin' Now":

Here's an Iron Maiden song that caught my ear on iTunes this morning:

I'm still really enjoying the CD by Redlight King and another band that I've been a big fan of is Black Stone Cherry. I listened to their most recent CD the last couple of days and this song stood out. This is "Stay":

Go 49ers! Super Bowl Here We Come!

2012-01-22T08:28:00.003-07:00

Hello,

I've been so busy lately with a new quarter starting at the school that I work at. That's why my blogs have been so few lately. Things should settle down this week and I hope to return to a regular blogging schedule.

A couple of quick movie notes. The new Sherlock Holmes movie is absolutely dreadful. I had no expectations going in that it would be good. And that's what happened. It was so bad I fell asleep in it. The whole Professor Moriarity story line was dreadful. Let's hope this is the last of this dreadful series.

I also watched "Courageous" with my kids last night. It's a Christian drama about becoming a better man and father. It's a good movie but very heavy handed in it's Christian dogma. I would have loved for that to have been toned down a bit. I say that and I'm a believer in what the movie is advocating. The Snake King scene is one of the funniest scenes I've seen in any movie ever. Watch just for that scene. My kids laughed their way through that whole scene.

Anyway on to the football being played today. In the AFC Championship game it will be New England playing against Baltimore. I have virtually no interest in this game and predict that it will be a boring game. In spite of Baltimore's ferocious defense, I predict that New England will win by at least two touchdowns.

For the record my favorite football team is the Dallas Cowboys and they always will be. However I've become tired of their inept owner and his meddling ways. And both the quarterback and head coach positions are far from being fully solved. So over the years I've adopted both Tampa Bay and the 49ers.

Now on to what I think will be the best game of the day by far. San Francisco vs. New York. I hate the Giants and everything about them. From their lame head coach to their weak chinned quarterback. I love all the people jumping on the Eli Manning bandwagon. With some suggesting he may be the best of the Manning brother quarterbacks. Please!

On the other side we have the refined Jim Harbaugh and Alex Smith. No one is under the illusion that Alex Smith is an All-Pro quarterback. However I think he really turned the corner last week with those two late 4th quarter drives. I loved the 28 yard run especially. The right play call at the right time and execute perfectly.

I predict San Francisco will win in a closely contested battle. Although I would love to see a 49ers romp as well. We will find out today if the 49ers are a team of density.

themusicaddict

Redlight King, Give Lana Del Ray a break, Go away "American Idol"

2012-01-19T10:46:00.006-07:00

Hello,

I've really been enjoying the CD by Redlight King, "Something For the Pain". Here are some of the songs off that CD, check it out. This is my favorite song on the CD, I especially like the "a little roughed up" chorus:

Here are three more great songs from the Redlight King"Comeback":

"Something For The Pain":

"Built To Last":

Also Lana Del Ray has been getting a lot of negativity for her performance on "Saturday Night Live" this past weekend. I'm not sure why she's received so much hatred. She's not the most dynamic singer, but for her kind of music that's what is to be expected. She sings very subdued, off the beaten path music. However she has a great voice, a great look and also sings some very unique songs. It's actual music not the over processed Britney Spears pop that we usually have to suffer through. I actually quite like Lana Del Ray and look forward eagerly to her CD coming out on January 31st.

I love this song, "Video Games":

This is the weaker of her two performances, but I still like her intriguing sound:

This is another very cool song by Miss Del Ray. amazon.com doesn't have the track listing for her new CD, but I'm guessing all these songs will be on that CD. This song is called "Born To Die":

Speaking of things that people perceive as over rated, Season 11 of "American Idol" debuted last night. I was a big fan just a few years ago. I loved Simon, but could have lived without him on the show. But who did they replace him with? Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez debuted as judges and neither are very good. But that still wasn't the nail in the coffin for me. The nail in the coffin actually isn't just one thing, it's several things. There have been some boring winners of late and Scotty McCreery is one of them. The last great person that won was David Cook. In fact it's usually a non winner that goes on to have the best career. The most interesting person for me last year was Pia Toscano.

Nails in the coffin include Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson as judges. Tyler's lame critiques revolve around the word beautiful in some way. Like Jackson he only has two or three basic critiques. Then other than being beautiful I'm not sure what anyone gets from J Lo's advice. How the hell is Randy Jackson and his dorky laugh still around? He has to be the dumbest man in the music industry. When was the last time he put a coherent sentence together?

I also hate all the producer driven manipulated shenanigans to favor one singer over another. Of course since it's a Fox show, the hype is overwhelming. Also the sameness of the show is now grating. This show should have ended after David Cook won, it would have ended on a high note. Now Fox is milking this show for all that they can. Although this show should have ended previously Fox will keep it going until they've sucked possibly every penny out of it. Hopefully the viewership will drop enough this season for the show to be cancelled once and for all.

themusicaddict

Go 49ers! "Alcatraz", "The Firm"

2012-01-16T11:07:00.005-07:00

Hello,

I was sort of happy about New York beating Green Bay last night in the NFL playoffs. That means the 49ers have home field advantage in the NFC Championship game. However it's longer that we have to see the goofiest looking head coach/quarterback combination in the NFL. Tom Coughlin, eww!, and Eli Manning. I don't know anything about Manning, he may be the coolest guy in the world. However he looks like a complete putz. If Waldo, from Where's Waldo, invaded reality he'd be indistinguishable from Eli. He seems like the annoying little brother that follows his big brother around everywhere. It also makes me laugh that people debate which Manning would they rather have. I only have to spend .002 seconds to come up with my answer, it's easily Peyton.

Out of the two match ups I expect the 49ers-Giants game to be the best. I really liked the great play calls of the 49ers. Even better I liked how the 49ers executed those, especially in the clutch. I'm still not completely sold on Alex Smith. However he does make the occasional great throw and he throws the ball away when he's in trouble. He has made considerable progress under Harbaugh this season. Also how can you not love their rushing game and their ball hawking, turnover causing defense? Go 49ers. I'll be glued in front of my TV watching this game.

I'm not really interested in the AFC Championship game. I'm just glad the Denver Tebows have been kicked out of the playoffs. Thanks again New England. I'm hoping that there isn't a San Francisco vs. Baltimore or a New York vs. New England Super Bowl. I don't want to hear for two weeks about Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh or a rematch of the Giants-Patriots 2008 Super Bowl. Otherwise known as the how in the hell did Eli Manning win a Super Bowl? I've heard more than enough about those two stories so far.

Thanks to Comcast On Demand I watched the first episode of the the new TV series "The Firm". This is based on John Grisham's book of the same name. However the series is set 10 years after the events of the book and movie. I watched Episode 1 last night and it starts out slowly, but picks up speed. It had a good ending and I had to stop myself from watching Part 2 last night. I already had watched too much TV yesterday.

Josh Lucas is perfect and very believable as Mitch McDeere. I love seeing old friends from past classic TV shows. There are two actors from "Battlestar Galactica". The first is the barely recognizable and extremely hot Tricia Heifer as Alex Clark. She played Gaius Baltar's favorite Cylon, number 6. Although she looks a lot better as blonde. And another old friend from "Battlestar Galactica", the Cylon Leoben Conoy. I like Juliette Lewis as Mitch McDeere's secretary. Molly Parker does a great job as McDeere's beleaguered wife Abby. So overall a great cast. The McDeer daughter feels extraneous to me though.

The lovely Tricia Heifer:

I really like how "The Firm" TV series is set 10 years in the future. That still gives it a solid foundation to build on. However there's enough distance not to have to rely on the book or movie. I also like some of the story lines. That includes McDeere realizing the anger of the father whose son had been killed by McDeere's client. McDeere recognized the humanity of the victims father and did what he could to minimize the damage of a potential assassination.

Two story lines that I was disappointed in are Alex Clark's firm buying McDeere's practice. That's okay, but buying his firm to keep him silent is kind of lame. It seems like the TV producers are recycling the story line of the book about a crooked firm. I also dislike the mob ties story line.

I also watched two more episodes of "Lost" from Season 4. One of those episodes was "Meet Kevin Johnson". That's the return of Michael to the show. Why did they bring him back? Michael is one of the most boring characters in "Lost" history. The whole Michael/Walt storyline sucked. I was so glad when they left at the end of Season Two. Them exiting the show was a good idea and not having Michael back on the show would have even been a better idea.

I also watched another good episode of "A Gifted Man". The show is emotionally manipulative and a bit predictable. (I knew that the grandmother, Cristina Gonzalez I believe, would be coming in and picking up her grandson to raise him. And that she and Maribella would partially reconcile. Although I knew that was going to happen, I was okay with it.) In spite of those things I like "Gifted". I love the characters and the Dr. Holt/ Anna dynamic. I also love Zeke and Dr. Sykoro, played by the absolutely gorgeous Rachelle Lefevre.

Then tonight I'm excited about the two hour premiere of "Alcatraz", it seems to have the potential to be a good show. At least the concept is intriguing, but I'm disheartened that it's on Fox. Fox is notorious for ruining a great idea with their corporate America thinking. Of course, "American Idol" being the prime example. Also I thought "Terra Nova" had the potential to be a great show. It seems like Fox is one of those companies that doesn't trust their creative people and interferes with everything. Fox probably has an accountant to cut off the creative people at the knees on any idea that's too expensive. They also probably have a focus group on every decision they make. (The anti-corporate thinking was exemplified by Steve Jobs and Apple. Sarcasm alert: And look where it got them, they are nowhere as great a company as Fox.)

I'll be watching all two hours tonight and I hope Fox hasn't interfered enough to what could be a great show. I'm excited by "Alcatraz". Again I like the premise of the plot. I'm also heartened that most of the creative force of "Lost" is behind this series. Although as I work through Season 4 of "Lost' it certainly the series is following the law of diminishing returns. But still that creative force created some of the most amazing ideas and characters in TV history. Anytime I see the Bad Robot logo I feel like I'm in the hands of a gigantic creative force. Not every thing J.J. Abrams and fellow creators do is gold, but a lot of it is.

themusicaddict

Just Say "No" To Tim Tebow

2012-01-15T09:25:00.005-07:00

Hello,

Dearest ESPN, can you now please focus on the 49ers. They are in the NFC Championship game and deserve your coverage. Tim Tebow isn't the only sports story going on, in fact let there be no more Tebow stories until at least the off season. The last Sportscenter I watched on Thursday seemed like at least 1/3rd of the coverage was devoted to Tebow. San Francisco, in spite of being a better team, only received the briefest of mentions.

Tim Tebow again was exposed as the below average NFL quarterback he is last night. He was terrible and the Broncos defense was porous. Tim Tebow finished the game completing 9 of 26 passes, a 34% completion percentage. His quarterback rating was 52.7, well below mediocre. He only threw for 136 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions. He also rushed the ball 5 times for 13 yards. Thank goodness New England completely dominated the Broncos, now can we please talk about something besides the overrated Tebow? Please.

I hear people wondering why he's so hated. It's not because he's religious. It's because he's very over rated and a creature of hype. His complete failure against the Chiefs and the Patriots are much more indicative of his abilities than his miraculous performance against the Steelers.

Now compare his pathetic stat line to a real quarterback, The Patriots Tom Brady. Brady completed 26 of 34 passes, a 76% completion rate. He had a quarterback rating of 137.6, which is extremely high. He threw for 363 yards, 6 TDs and only one interception. To put this in perspective, Brady almost had as many touchdown passes as Tebow had completions. This game highlights how important having a great quarterback is. It truly is a quarterback league, which is why Dallas won't be relevant as long as they have Tony Romo as their quarterback. Speaking of which I still can't believe Dallas found a way to beat the 49ers in San Francisco early in the season.

Tebow will never be in the same league as Brady and I expect him to wash out of the NFL in a couple of seasons. But as someone who had the Broncos shoved down my throat every week growing up, I'm kind of glad that Tebow has been so successful. Why? Now instead of the Broncos going and getting a real quarterback, they will stick with Tebow. That means more mediocre seasons for the Broncos with him at quarterback.

In the other game yesterday, San Francisco had two stirring late game drives. Alex Smith was a great college quarterback and I'm not sure why he hasn't developed into a great NFL quarterback. Although he had a damn good game yesterday. He was 24 of 42 for 299 yards. He threw for 3 touchdowns and no interceptions with a 103.2 quarterback rating. He had a slightly better rating than Drew Brees, who many people consider a much better NFL quarterback.

I watched all of the game, except for the last couple of minutes. I had a social function to attend. I was able to see the play call where Alex Smith ended up running for a 28 yard touchdown. Then it was a Smith to Vernon Davis touchdown pass with 9 seconds that clinched the victory for the 49ers. Another clutch play by Smith and great call by Harbaugh.

I've been very disappointed with Alex Smith since he's been in the NFL. I admit I thought the 49ers were crazy when they resigned him before this season. But that has been one of the many great moves the 49ers have made since Jim Harbaugh signed on as head coach. Again this shows how much of a difference a great head coach can make. Alex Smith was/is the weak link for the 49ers Super Bowl hopes. But if he continues to play like he did yesterday, the 49ers have a real chance to win the Super Bowl. That would be awesome. I'd love to have a Super Bowl that I care about who wins the game.

There are two more games today, both of which I care much less about than the games of yesterday. The only one I will follow with any interest is Green Bay-New York. Although I dislike the Giants with a great intensity, I'm hoping they win today. In the NFC Championship game, I'd much rather have the 49ers play at home against the Giants than them play on the road in frigid Green Bay. Go Giants. Now do I think they will win. Heck no!

themusicaddict

Where Is The Good Rock Music in 2012? Part 2

2012-01-12T09:26:00.003-07:00

Hello,

I spent some thought on where is good rock music now. I even posted on my Facebook page trying to get some suggestions. I did receive some suggestions including Stone Sour, Halestorm, Alter Bridge, Skillet and Shinedown. I actually checked out Skillet and Alter Bridge before and neither one knocked my socks off. I actually saw Shinedown in concert a few years ago and I liked them. They covered the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Simple Man". That song fit well into their set, I also noticed that most of their songs have a 70's feel. And in this age of overproduced songs, that's truly a compliment. I will have to check out the other bands mentioned. Another person suggested Coldplay. No offense but I like rock music that has some crunch.

Here's a good recent rock song:

As I was thinking about the current music scene, I realized I left out a few good current rock bands. One of my favorite CDs of 2011 was Black Stone Cherry's "Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea". I also am a big fan of My Chemical Romance and enjoyed many songs off of Cab's "Symphony Soldier". I especially like this song:

Also exercising this morning my iPod played this song, I love me some Paramore.

Where Is The Good Rock Music in 2012?

2012-01-11T17:19:00.007-07:00

Hello,

I'd like to know where the great rock music of today is. When I grew up we had several classic rock bands in their prime. Late 70's there was Led Zeppelin, Boston, Cheap Trick, Heart, AC/DC... During the 80's there was Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Journey, Foreigner, AC/DC again, REO Speedwagon and at least 20 other great bands. That's why when I buy music now, it's mostly older music. I'm not be the only one either as Def Leppard and other classic 80's bands are still selling out arenas while most current artists play to half empty arenas.

This list will be updated at least a couple more times, here are 20 other great bands. Now all of these may not be "great" rock bands, but they all knew how to rock.

1) Poison

2) Whitesnake

3) Warrant

4) Hell I'll even include Tesla

5) U2

6) R.E.M.

7) Elton John

Then in the late 80's/ early 90's the hair metal scene exploded. Also Guns N' Roses exploded at the end of the 80's. Then Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots came in and swept out the hair metal bands. Grunge had a nice few years before fading quickly. All was good because all of it was great rock music. During the mid 90's hip hop started taking over to the detriment of music, then there was the rock/ hip hop hybrids like Limp Bizkit. But there were a few rock bands that still got through. There was still Nine Inch Nails and Living Color kicking butt. Also Sublime and Incubus had a few good moments.

Then came the early 2000's and that was the beginning of Creed and Nickelback. I know that many people don't like Creed but they had a few good songs. So did Nickelback for that matter. However with the dearth of great rock music they rose to be one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Are they so mediocre because they have almost no competition and aren't forced to raise their game? In the 80's Nickelback would have been the opening band on a 3 band concert. They would have been the band you purposely miss.

In the mid 2000's we had Hinder, Buckcherry, Three Days Grace and many other at least good rock bands. But over the last few years hip hop has remained a dominant force. Also listening to the radio lately there's a lot of over produced pop songs that's dominating the scene now. Honestly a lot of that is crap and was done a lot better in the 80's. I like Lady Gaga and her originality, but Ke$ha and her ilk are just Lady Gaga lite.

Now in 2012 what do we have? Who are the two biggest rock bands right now? Probably Nickelback and Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl is now saying that rock will never die and that this time reminds him of the early 90's. You know right before his other band exploded. Thanks Dave, now can you and the rest of the Fighters slink away into the corner.

This is Billboard's latest Top 10 rock albums. Warning there will be a lot of sarcasm in the following.

1) Florence + The Machine: There is nothing wrong with them, but they aren't a rock band.

2) The Black Keys. With them being the rock band currently going they are filling up the vacuum that used to be rock music. Almost literally at this point they have no competition.

3) Coldplay, Please! If this is rock music, that would explain why it's dying.

4) Nickelback, oh hell kill me now.

5) Foster The People, not a rock band and they definitely don't have a rock band name.

6) Mumford & Sons, I saw them down the street moving my neighbors.

7) Daughtry, OK Black Keys you aren't the only relevant rock band right now.

8) "Twilight" soundtrack are you kidding.

9) Evanescence. Yes, they are a rock band. But after their electric debut, they haven't seem to have anything amazing. It's also hard to build a following when you only release a mediocre CD every five years.

10) Korn: Again this band even being on this list shows the dearth of good rock bands right now.

Red Hot Chili Peppers are trying to remain relevant, as my brother said they should have retired after "Blood Sugar Sex Magik".

Right now I would say that the best rock band is The Black Keys. I also like Daughtry and am glad that Paramore is about to release a new CD. These are three bands that show even amidst all the crap, real rock music can still climb out of the gutter. Thankfully there are a few bands out there that still rock. But when I was growing up there were 30 bands at any one time. Some may question how good all the bands were, but many of them were better than the mediocre baseline established by Nickelback now.

I've been checking out current rock music on Spotify today. Sixx A.M., since Nikki Sixx was Motley Crue's main songwriter, I had hope they would be good. Sad to say, very average. Egypt Central, a band I'd never heard of, isn't very good. Five Finger Death Punch, more blunt more trauma than rock music. Although I only listened to a couple of songs of each I did like most of what I heard from Maine and Redlight King.

"War Horse", Why are people talking about the New York Giants as possibly winning the Super Bowl?

2012-01-08T10:08:00.002-07:00

Hello,

I went and saw "War Horse" with two of my kids last night. This movie has a lot going for it, but is far away from being a perfect movie. From the opening scenes this felt like a Steven Spielberg movie. Very few directors can feature the majesty of the movies as Spielberg can. Also my respect was horses was renewed. There's just something so cool and powerful as a horse. While the acting in this movie is great, the feeling coming from the horses was awe inspiring. That's especially the war horse. I also liked his black horse friend. This movie also features Spielberg's trademark humor, even in the most dire situations.

I have to admit I shed a few tears at the end of this powerful movie.

This movie only has a couple of downsides. The first one is it's way too long, the whole storyline of the French grandfather and granddaughter could have been excised. We don't need those scenes to highlight how incredible the horse or his story is. And I know the French grandfather plays a part in the finale of the movie, but the ending would still have been inspiring without that.

I didn't get a chance to see either one of the NFL playoff games yesterday and it sounds like I didn't miss much. The two most intriguing games of this week for me are today though. Again I'll be cheering for the Broncos to lose. Denver only scored three points last week and that was from Kansas City fumbling the ball on special teams. I'm going to love watching them get their offense stifled all day and hopefully Tim Tebow as a NFL quarterback completely disproven.

Also I love how people are talking about the Giants being a Super Bowl favorite. Crazier things have happened, but how did this team that barely crawled into the playoffs get considered a Super Bowl favorite? Remember the Giants are a team that played at home against the team that chokes so much, the Chokeboys. They beat the poorly managed and coached Cowboys. This is the same team with the underwhelming Eli Manning as quarterback and geezer Tom Coughlin as head coach. Two people who seem to be lucky to still be in the NFL. Of the Mannings I'd take Peyton every time, even not knowing how his neck injury will affect his career going forward.

themusicaddict

Right on Black Keys, Nickelback Does SUCK!, Great Songs

2012-01-05T15:44:00.008-07:00

Hello,

One thing that's great about a divorce is that you no longer have to explain yourself or justify the things what you do. There's a very freeing five word statement you can use when people demand an explanation. Use it freely and often: "It Is What It Is".

The new cover for Rolling Stone magazine is the Black Keys (see above), they are a very cool and funky rock band. I really like their sludgy rock sound and a band that deserves the cover of Rolling Stone. Although I'm surprised that they got a cover. Anyway one of the band, Patrick Carney, had some very spot on things to say about Nickelback:

"Rock & roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world," he says. "So they became OK with the idea that the biggest rock band in the world is always going to be shit – therefore you should never try to be the biggest rock band in the world. F that! Rock & roll is the music I feel the most passionately about, and I don't like to see it fing ruined and spoon-fed down our throats in this watered-down, post-grunge crap, horrendous shit." (I've edited this a bit.)

I couldn't agree with him more, Nickelback sucks. I had the misfortune of seeing them in concert. They were too loud, too stupid and have no idea how to perform in concert. They would play a crappy song, stop and do some inane thing, play a crappy song, stop do some inane thing all through their set. They had no idea about building momentum. There's no way they should be headliner. I'm still laughing that some Detroit Lions fans took up a petition to veto Nickelback playing halftime at their nationally televised game on Thanksgiving. They ended up playing. While I don't know if I agree that Nickelback is the biggest band in the world, that they would be even be considered shows how lame the music scene is now.

As I go through watching all 6 seasons of "Lost", for the most part I'm really enjoying it. I just barely finished watching the end of season 3 a few days ago. For those of you don't remember that was the last of Charlie Pace being on the show. I was neutral about the character of Pace during his 3 seasons on the show. I always thought he was a bit of a selfish wanker, but he proved himself to a man when he died for his fellow Oceanic 815 survivors. I liked how much he cared for Claire and helped take care of Aaron. He achieved redemption as a character by his heroic final act. (Of course this is "Lost" so characters never completely leave.)

I love music, but got sick of hearing about his one hit wonder band Drive Shaft.

Here's Drive Shaft's "hit", this isn't one of the great songs.

Here's Charlie Pace singing a snippet of "Wonderwall":

I like the scenes when he was singing on the streets. He absolutely picked one of the greatest songs ever to sing, that's Oasis' "Wonderwall". While Oasis is easily one of the most overrated bands of all-time, they did have this sublime moment of glory. I like how this video starts out with the singer singing into a mirror. That's perfect for the narcissistic d bags. And now that I think about it Oasis and Drive Shaft have a lot in common. This video has 39 million youtube hits, that seems appropriate. Anyway here's one of the best songs ever:

I just have one question as I started watching Season 4 of "Lost" last night, why is Rose and Bernard still on? What purpose do they serve? I can see why this show was dwindling in quality. Too many scattershot characters and story lines. At the start of season 4 there are two groups of Oceanic 815 survivors, plus the Others, plus the freight crew and finally all the flash forwards going on.

This show was in desperate need of editing. And I'm so tired of Ben. His story lines involve him lying about something over and over again. There are still great things that suck me in. For instance when Ben shot Locke and the bullet went through his body. Locke says he probably would have died if he still had that kidney. I love that. I also love the quirky charm of Hurley, although it took him awhile to grown on me. With moments and characters like that I still enjoy this show very much and I expect to be sad once I'm done watching it.

Also here's the hilarious 8:15 review of the first 3 seasons of "Lost". My favorite part "Mr. Friendly throws like a girl".

More great songs, check out needtobreathe.

Instead of picking up the latest CD from Nickelback, go to amazon.com and buy the "Alligator Records 40th Anniversary Collection" MP3 CD for only $4.99. It contains 38 great blues songs. A selection of those songs. I love the blues guitar sound in Janiva Magniss "Slipped, Tripped and Fell In Love":

Son Seals "Going Home". This is actually a different song than on the CD, but this is also a great song. I love that blues feeling, highlighted by the great guitar playing.

Finally Rick Estrin's "U B U":

Spin Doctors "Two Princes":

Backstreet Boys "Larger Than Life":

Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good":

I've officially decided that I like Taylor Swift quite a bit. I'm excited that she'll be in the musical adaptation of "Les Miserables":

I know I had a few Smiths songs on one of my recent blogs. However when I think of great songs, these are two songs that usually rush to my mind.

"There Is A Light That Never Goes Out":

themusicaddict

The Cab and Vendetta Red, Be Careful When Divorcing

2012-01-04T11:44:00.006-07:00

Hello,

Today's blog is about two bands that started a few years ago, but haven't even come close to taking off. Both of them have good songs, here are a few. First of all the band called Cab. All the songs below are off their most recent CD, "Symphony Soldier":

This is "Animal":

"Angel With A Shotgun":

"Temporary Bliss":

This is Vendetta Red's "hit", but not their only good song:

For those of you who like My Chemical Romance's "The Black Parade", the Vendetta Red CD "Sisters of the Red Death" is thematically similar. Thanks to my good friends at Graywhale, I was able to purchase the CD for only a buck and I'm glad I did. I would give it two thumbs up and urge you to check it out. Here are some songs from that excellent CD:

Only 253 views for this video of "Run":

"A Joyless Euphoia": (Warning this is explicit and the sound isn't as good as I would like.)

This song is called "Coital Improv", yeah you heard me. I really like this song, again the sound isn't optimal on this video.

Sorry to get so heavy, I just want to warn you that if you're going through a divorce to be very careful. The decisions you make now and the things you agree to now will affect you forever. Before you finalize the divorce, give yourself some time to think through things. I went to see an attorney and he told me not to agree to anything until I "pulled my head out of my ass". Unfortunately I didn't listen and now I'm regretting it. I get my kids less than I want and only have one of 4 of my kids for taxes. I was s0 emotionally and mentally screwed up I just agreed to anything.

I was also delusional in hoping that I could save the marriage and was also agreeable because of that. I would never suggest to be rude or anything similar to that. However you have to be very pragmatic and you need to fight for what is right. But fight fair, especially if you have kids. Don't let the feelings for your ex influence the decisions you make regarding your kids. Make sure you let your kids know that both parents still love them very much. Also remind them that the divorce in no way is their fault. So while you will want to look out for yourself, look out for your kids even more. I'm very happy to pay child support, not so much alimony.

The more pressure you feel from the soon to be ex, the more you dig your feet in. Don't necessarily drag your feet and draw out the process, but be very careful. Wait until you are clear eyed enough to make good decisions. Talk to people who have been divorced and listen to their advice. Also have someone that you trust read over the divorce decree before agreeing to anything. I'm glad I had someone do that for me or I would have even got screwed worse.

I'd suggest you wait at least 6 months from when you find out you are getting divorced to when you have it finalized. Divorce is a weird creature. The last thing you want to do is slow it down, but that's what you need to do. It will be one of the hardest things you do, but you will be so grateful you did it years later. Enough regrets come with divorce, don't have any more from the divorce decree.

You shouldn't fight paying child support, obviously you still want to support your kids. I would suggest to men fight to pay state mandated child support minimums and don't pay alimony at all. Most people don't pay that, it's sort of going away. Of course, if you have extra you can give it to the ex or spend it on the kids yourself. Kids usually always need new clothes and other basics.

Make sure you get a good attorney as well. If you have any fears about their competency, it's time to get a new attorney. Unfortunately the law isn't represented by the most wholesome people in the world. The law is also not about what's right or wrong, it's about getting the most for yourself. Although that's a tough situation, deal with it as much as you can. As a man the bias is against you from the beginning, which is another reason to take your time in the whole divorce process.

Even after a divorce is finalized the decree can be changed, but again you would need to get a lawyer. Unless you have a lot of money, that's not a very feasible option. Get it right the first time.

Divorce is brutal and scars you for life, even a "good" divorce will. I worked with a very good counselor and she helped me through a lot. Without her help, I'd be much worse off now. But still therapy doesn't cure everything. My divorce was so bad- and relatively it wasn't that bad- that I don't know if I ever want to get married again. That's not me hating marriage, that's me haunted by the specter of a potential second divorce.

Once you get divorced you need to do a lot of thinking. I also suggest that every person goes through some counseling, I'm so much better off because I did. I can't emphasize that enough. It will be a bit weird not being married anymore and you'll be dragging bottom. But remember this is just temporary, don't make any rash decisions. It will take you at least a year to mentally work through everything.

Everyone heals at different rates, but one thing that most people agree on is to wait at least a year before you start dating. Unfortunately past relationships will continue to haunt you. There have been times where I feel healthy enough to date and an issue from the past comes up. That always slows me back down on dating again. Unless you are really lucky, you are literally haunted by your divorce for the rest of your life.

Also from experience, put off one on one dating for awhile. Go out in group things. Not only is there a lot less pressure, it's also much more economical. You can find out about a lot of people quickly in a safe environment.

I heard this song this morning that explains some of the above. This is Guns N' Roses "There Was A Time". This song does a good job describing the loss of affection when a relationship ends.

When the following song started playing this morning I wondered how did this song get on my iPod? I then remembered what song it was:

themusicaddict

Jerry Jones Playlist 2, Bowl Conference Records

2012-01-03T09:13:00.008-07:00

Hello,

I've been mocking the Pac-12, allegedly one of the so-called Big 6 conferences, for their abysmal bowl record. They finished with a 2-5 bowl record by the way. Thanks to the Utes and Oregon for giving this conference some bowl victories. Good job Utes! Don't worry Pac 12 fans, USC will be bowl eligible next year and they know how to win bowl games. To be fair I decided to check on all the major conferences to see who lives up to their reputation as a truly quality conference. My criteria is based on actual performance not who your friends are.

The SEC has an amazing reputation, deservedly so, for being an awesome college football league. Thus I expected them to have the best bowl record. However the conference with the best bowl record is the Big 12. The Big 12 is 6-1, only Kansas is left to play their bowl. Kansas has a chance to win that game as Jake Heaps isn't trying to play quarterback for them yet.

The SEC has been decent, but haven't quite lived up to their reputation. They are 4-2 so far. Arkansas, LSU and Alabama still are to play. Obviously in a few days Alabama-LSU are playing each other in the so-called national championship game. (With Oklahoma St. winning last night I really wish there was at least a plus one.) The SEC will either finish with a 6-3 or a 5-4 bowl record.

I've mocked the Big East a lot, but so far they are a respectable 2-1 in bowl play. They still have West Virginia to play in a BCS Bowl and somehow mediocre Pittsburgh got a bowl invite. Again it seems there are at least 3 too many bowls. The qualifications to make a bowl should be much higher than just 6 wins. I would suggest you should have to win at least 75% of your games.

The Big-10 is having their annual meltdown in bowl games. They are 3-6 with Michigan still left to play. Michigan will play Va. Tech tonight in the Corporate Sponsored Sugar Bowl. Note to Wisconsin, you may want to skip the Rose Bowl next year if invited. The Badgers have lost the last two Rose Bowls.

The ACC, well they are a hell of a basketball conference Go Heels!, is 2-4 in bowl play. Va. Tech and Clemson are still left to play. They'll probably finish with about a 3-5 record. That's only noteworthy in how poorly they performed.

Finally, we know the only real football is being played in the Big 6 conferences right? Not! Conference USA is now 3-1 in bowl play with SMU still to play. Also the disrespected Boise State Broncos easily defeated one of those supposed superior BCS teams when they whipped Arizona State 56-24. Baylor not only beat a BCS school, but scored 67 points on them.

There have been a bunch of changes in NFL teams so far. Raheem Morris was fired after 3 seasons at Tampa Bay. If you lose 10 games in a row, how do you not fire your coach? Ten straight losses sounds like you've lost your team's attention. The most surprising development has been Norv Turner is going to keep his job for at least another year in San Diego. Really? Turner is 49-31 as San Diego's coach, but only 3-3 in the playoffs. I'm also surprised that the "Dream Team" kept Andy Reid for another year. Why wouldn't you keep a coach you just finished a 8-8 season? Dallas is. Reid is 136-90-1 in his career.

The NFL news that surprised me the least is that Jerry Jones plans on staying as the GM of the Dallas Cowboys. I was already working on Jerry Jones playlist 2 when that news came. See below for more songs for my Jerry Jones 2 playlist. As with any story at espn.com, fans can leave comments. As one would expect, the comments are less than favorable to Jerry Jones. Usually when a story is published, there seem to be comments for and against. However of the several comments made, not one of them was a plea for Jerry to stay as the Cowboys GM. It seems the only one that wants Jerry as GM is Jerry. Meanwhile the Cowboys will continue to be mediocre and flounder. There's a reason the Cowboys have only been in one playoff in the last 4 years. With how things are looking, the playoffs look like a long shot for the Cowboys next season as well.

It's clear the king has no clothes, where's the small child to point this out to him. I didn't realize there was a song written for Jerry Jones, and other egomaniacs, until I read the lyrics of this song:

The following song contains the truthful line: "Just because I'm wrong don't make you right." This is needtobreathe's "The Outsiders":

This is one thing I'm sick of having after 15 years of spectacular failures:

Jerry, not only would I like you to be gone, but please also kiss off.

"Blister In The Sun":

And this song has nothing to do with Jerry Jones, I just love this song. "American Music":

I don't know anything about Jerry Jones, other than he has some narcissistic tendencies. However I have three words to describe what kind of GM he is:

I'll close out with some Smiths songs, they seem appropriate for Jerry Jones.

"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" This song contains one of my all-time favorite lines "I was looking for a job and then I found a job. And heaven knows that I'm miserable now."

No Jerry this song isn't specifically about you, but if the shoe fits......

"Panic".... On The Streets of Dallas. Later is the line "Hang the JJ" or am I just imagining things?

themusicaddict

Jerry Jones' Playlist, Thanks Onion for the laugh!

2012-01-02T12:10:00.007-07:00

Hello,

I just stumbled across this from the Onion. This is from September 24th, 2009. It's even more fitting today as it points out how stupid Jerry Jones running the Cowboys into the ground has been. Thanks Onion for bringing a much needed laugh to my day.

"IRVING, TEXAS—In an attempt to cut the franchise's losses and "move forward in a positive direction," the Dallas Cowboys severed ties with controversial owner Jerry Jones Monday, ending their tumultuous 20-year relationship with the divisive figure.

According to sources within the Cowboys organization, the decision to release Jones was influenced by the lack of any playoff victories in more than 12 years, the owner's distracting sideline antics, and his selfish, "me first" attitude, which many said was having a cancerous effect on the clubhouse.

"We value Jerry's contributions to the Cowboys over the past two decades, but it has become painfully clear that we just don't share the same priorities," Cowboys public relations director Richard Dalrymple said. "This wasn't an easy choice to make, but we're confident it is a decision that can only make our team better."

"Losing to our NFC East rivals the Giants in our brand-new stadium was really the last straw," added Dalrymple, who said Jones "insisted" that the $1.2 billion facility would solve all of the team's problems. "The Cowboys need to focus on winning, and we can't do that with Jerry's incessant ego-boosting publicity stunts, or this opulent sports venue that's devoted more to himself than achieving postseason success."

Cowboys officials called Jones Sunday night to inform him he was being cut from the team, ordering the 66-year-old owner to clean out his luxury box and remove his personal belongings from the premises immediately. Jones, who was reportedly stunned to be removed from his ownership duties, issued a statement on his website thanking himself for all his hard work and years of service.

"Well, damn, looks like the 'Boys couldn't handle Double J anymore," the blog post read in part. "I'll never forget my time in the Big D, and how I single-handedly won three Super Bowls. Don't worry, Jerry Jones will land on his feet somewhere, and when he does, Dallas better watch out."

Jones' questionable conduct on and off the field almost certainly played a role in sealing the troubled owner's fate. Although some members of the Cowboys' management have reportedly contemplated Jones' termination for the past several years, sources said his recent association with known criminals as well as a perceived lack of character and poor leadership qualities provided ample reasons for his release.

Ultimately, team officials said that Jones had become an embarrassment to the storied franchise.

"Between the opportunistic condemnations of game plans, the uninformed evaluations of draftees, and the paranoid delusions that players and coordinators were scheming against him, it's no wonder the Cowboys have had enough," NFL Today commentator Boomer Esiason said. "Maybe his absence will finally give the team a chance to start living up to its full potential."

"Just watching the Cowboys practice without Jones leering at them, you can tell that morale has already greatly improved," Esiason continued. "They seem so loose and relaxed and their faces are just lighting up with smiles. This is the first time Tony Romo has had fun since he put on the Cowboys uniform."

Former Cowboys head coach and Fox Sports analyst Jimmy Johnson speculated that the team's real motivation for cutting Jones was that the aging owner, who turns 67 in October, is well past his prime and would have continued to cost the ball club too much money.

"His skills have really diminished the past few years, and he just can't make the moves that he used to," said Johnson, adding that the rest of the NFL was passing Jones by every day. "When you get older you start to slow down, and as you try to compensate, you wind up making poor decisions."

"He had to eat more than $9 million dollars of salary cap just to get rid of Terrell Owens," Johnson added. "In this economy? What was he thinking?"

Though his publicist would not say whether the former Cowboys owner was entertaining offers from any other teams, an anonymous NFL source told reporters that, immediately after Jones cleared waivers Tuesday, Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis offered him a record-setting three-year $120 million deal."

I have been dealing with a person from my past that pisses me off. It's a person I have to deal with not by choice. That and I'm thinking about the stupidity of Jerry Jones and how he's ruined the Cowboys. I have a lot of anger and while exercising today, a lot of songs played that applied to both situations. This blog also is marking a transition from so many of my sports related blogs and more to music. I'll still be writing about the 49ers as they make their playoff run. I'll also mock Tim Tebow as he puts up another terrible performance against the Steelers.

Here are some songs that remind me of Jones and the idiots in my life. This is Albert Einstein's famous insanity quote: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." After 15 years of futility, that comment applies to Jones' running down the Cowboys. Jerry you need to get a new conductor or I'm getting off your crazy train. Keeping with that theme, this classic song from Ozzy:

A song from Missing Persons, "Words":

I think this song was written about Jerry Jones. I especially like the line which must be about Jerry Jones being a GM "I know that you are wrong and this is not where you belong":

"Orange Crush":

Yes, I have a lot of vile in my system today. Dear Jerrah:

Linkin Park knows about anger. Someone needs to take Jerrah aside and say:

"Shut up when I'm talking to you
Shut up, shut up, shut up
Shut up when I'm talking to you
Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up
I'm about to break"

Somewhere Jerry belongs is outside of any kind of control of the Cowboys. I'm tired of my team being run into the ground. "Somewhere I Belong":

themusicaddict

Dallas Cowboys: 2011 Post Mortem

2012-01-02T07:38:00.003-07:00

Hello,

Earlier in the season when the Cowboys won and moved to 7-4, I wrote a blog asking if their record was mostly smoke and mirrors? After yet another collapse, it seems the answer was yes. The Cowboys went 1-4 after that victory.

I'm just incensed the Cowboys do this every season lately. Jerry says he's "extremely disappointed" by the result of yesterday's game. He also said he "unequivocally" is behind Jason Garrett. (Someone got Jerry a dictionary for Christmas.) These are the kind of things he was saying about Wade Phillips as he kept on finding excuses not to fire him. But truly the Cowboys biggest problem remains Jerry Jones.

The Dallas Cowboys top 5 needs in the offseason:

1) Jerry Jones need to disappear. No more press conferences, no more going down on the field during the games and no more self promotion. Over the last couple of years I've realized the more well known an NFL's team owner is, the worse the team is. And the more obscure the owner is, the better the team is. For instance, I know who basically who the owners of the Patriots and Steelers are, but we rarely hear from them. Maybe they are working to make their teams better rather than being in front of the cameras all the time?

2) The Dallas Cowboys desperately need to get a real General Manager. Jones once again proves he has no idea what he's doing as a GM. I've learned in life the last person we should ever lie to is ourselves. However Jones keeps on lying to himself that he knows what he's doing as a GM.

3) Dallas, sooner rather than later, needs to find their next great quarterback. Tony Romo isn't that person, although you can't blame last night's choke on him. Although how does such a supposedly mobile quarterback get sacked 6 times? I didn't want to waste my time by watching the losers choke again so thankfully I didn't watch the game.

4) Get some players! The Cowboys have a reputation about how much talent they have on this team. Really, then why does this team suck so much? The Cowboys should be cutting Terrance Newman right now. Use the 14th pick in the draft to get a cornerback and then get a couple of more cornerbacks in free agency. Terrance "Burnt Toast" Newman is scheduled to receive about $8 million next year. Cutting him will open up a lot of money to resolve Dallas' biggest need.

5) Do whatever they can to help make Garrett and Ryan more successful. If the Cowboys aren't better after next season, both need to go. But with Jerry Jones as GM I'll be writing these type of blogs about this time every year.

It does crack me up that with all the hype that comes with Rob and Rex Ryan neither one of them will be in the playoffs.

Although the Cowboys collapsed as I predicted yesterday, some good things happened yesterday. San Francisco won to finish 14-2 and clinch the #2 seed in the NFC. I look forward to their first playoff game in two weeks.

The Colts lost and clinched the #1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. If they draft anyone else besides Andrew Luck they are crazy. For those idiots that say that Peyton Manning and Luck on the same team will never work, I say well make it work! If Manning can come back near 100% then it could be a two to three year transition to Luck. But if Manning can't ever reach his peak ever again, then you have a great teacher for Luck.

But my favorite thing that happened yesterday was the complete collapse and choke of the Denver Broncos. The Tim Tebow Train completely derailed as the Broncos lost 7-3. How bad is the AFC West when the Broncos lost their last 3 games of the season and still won that division? I enjoyed watching the first half of the Broncos complete and spectacular failure.

Just remember that Tim Tebow is a professional quarterback. His numbers were so bad yesterday that they are laughable. The Timster completed 6 of 22 passes, barely 25%. Even more laughable those 6 passes are 3 times more passes than he completed against the Chiefs earlier in the season. Tebow also threw for only 60 yards. 60 yards? By a NFL quarterback? Maybe he shouldn't be a NFL quarterback? Tebow also had that fumble near the end of the first half and later threw a pick. His quarterback rating was 20.6, by comparison an average rating is about 80. People will say but his strength is being able to mix it up by running. He also rushed the ball for 6 times for 16 yards. Yes I do realize that when he was sacked those yards count in his running stats.

Next weekend the 8-8 Broncos host the 12-4 Steelers, who have even a better defense than Kansas City. That could be one of the ugliest playoff games ever. Pittsburgh will win easily ending the Broncos season with 4 straight losses and 4 straight ugly performances by Tebow. Denver then can you please not play Tebow ever again? It's bad enough hearing way too much about a player when he's good, but when he sucks as much as Tim Tebow.......

thedisgustedmusicaddict

Utes, Cougars, Cowboys football etc., Season 3 "Lost" finale thoughts

2012-01-01T09:16:00.004-07:00

Hello,

The Dallas Cowboys are one of the most creative teams in the NFL. I don't remember a team who can find so many creative ways of losing. I can't guarantee that the Cowboys will lose for sure today, they are playing the very inept Giants. As a Cowboys fan I'd be extremely surprised if Dallas won today. I've been following them for so long and have had my heart broken so many times. The Cowboys have failed to deliver the big win so many times, now I've come to expect a loss in every big game they play in. Honestly I'd prefer the Cowboys to lose today which would give them a better draft pick and an easier schedule next season. Also that would save them the embarrassment of losing at home next week in the first round of the playoffs. As usual I'll be finding something else to do tonight rather than watch the Cowboys choke yet again.

How will the Boys lose today? Will it be Tony Romo with a big interception or fumble? Though to be fair he's been pretty solid the last half of this season. Will it be Terrance Newman giving up another big pass? Please Dallas cut him after this game and save all that money you are scheduled to pay him next season. But this season's weak point has been their defense. Thus my prediction is that the Cowboys D will give up the big plays. They just don't have enough athletes, especially in the secondary. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the Cowboys get blown out today. I'm giving Rob Ryan a pass this first season. If you don't have enough good players it doesn't matter what kind of defense a team runs.

Sarcasm alert: Hey Jerry no matter what happens today, stay the teams GM. You've done a hell of a job the last 15 seasons.

After the Broncos were blown out the last couple of games, a lot of the hype about Tim Tebow has gone away. Thank goodness! Although I was disappointed when the Jazz Bear was wearing a Tim Tebow jersey at a Jazz game recently. I'll be cheering for the Chiefs to get a big victory today and eliminate the Broncos from playoff contention. I hope Kyle Orton throws for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns. I also hope Tebow doesn't break 100 yards passing and he's exposed for the the fraud NFL quarterback he is.

My alma mater came up big yesterday in their bowl game. The University of Utah, the real U, beat Georgia Tech 30-27 in the Sun Bowl. In their inaugural Pac 12 season, the Utes finished 8-5. The Pac 12 should be damn glad they invited the Utes to their conference. The Pac 12 has been exposed as being highly overrated as a football conference this bowl season. Thankfully for the Pac 12 the Utes won their bowl game. The Pac 12 is now 1-4 in this season's bowl games. I expect the Utes to do much better in the Pac 12 next season. John "The Wolfman" White will be coming back for his senior season. He ran for 1,519 yards and 15 touchdowns this season. At the least he should receive some Heisman publicity next year.

Coach Kyle Whittingham also returns, the Utes would be wise to keep him around as long as possible. Coach Whit is a fantastic head coach as highlighted by his 7-1 record in bowl games. The man knows what he's doing. Now I hope he can go out and find a real quarterback for the Utes for next season. I acknowledge how hard that would be. Jon Hays gave the Utes all he could and had several big plays for the Utes yesterday. However I don't think he's going to get a lot better. After being knocked out of the last two seasons early due to injury, the flimsy Jordan Wynn will be returning to the Utes next year. Not only is he injury prone, he's just not that good of quarterback. He'll only break hearts if the Utes put too much faith into him. BYU and Utah's quarterback situations have a lot in common.

Meanwhile the Ute Men's Basketball team continues it's wretched season. Most people realized that the Utes would have a tough season this year. In fact, it may be a few years before they are as good as they were in the Rick Majerus era. Just one stat to show you how bad their basketball team is this season. Yesterday their basketball team only scored 3 more points than their football team.

I predict that the BYU's Mens basketball team will have a good year this year. They should qualify for a NCAA Tourney bid and compete for the West Coast Conference title. But I don't expect much more than that. I'm not sure what it is about this team, but they seem to be missing something. And no it's not Jimmer Fredette. I'm not sure what that missing ingredient is either. The Cougars were exposed in their 98-82 beatdown to St. Mary's. And that unknown missing ingredient will haunt them all season.

One thing that I love about the West Coast Conference is their souped up high school gyms. It was hilarious seeing their seat layout at St. Marys. What are they going to think when they get to the 20,000 seat Marriott Center?

Over the last couple of days I watched the last 8 hours of "Lost" Season 3. After "Lost's" sterling first 2 seasons, Season 3 was very uneven. I just find that the Others don't interest me that much. I'm glad 10 of them were killed in the episodes I watched yesterday. Although just because your dead on "Lost", that doesn't mean that we won't see you again. Also Charlie Pace was written out at the end of season 3. The morally ambiguous Charlie went out heroically, dying so that Claire and Aaron could be rescued by helicopters. I wasn't a big fan of Charlie Pace until these last few episodes. I loved the list of the Top 5 moments of his life, with meeting Claire at #1. Although from Desmond's flashes we knew that Pace wasn't going to be on the show much longer, I hoped there would be some way to keep his character on the show.

But are these people coming to rescue the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors really good people or not? Not that I believe anything that Ben says but I could see the rescuers being written as bad people.

Although I wasn't sure I was going to watch any more of "Lost", Season 3's last few episodes sucked me back in. I loved the flash forward with Kate and Jack in LA. (One thing that I don't like about "Lost" is how much the producers have relied on the flashbacks.) Why they made Kate wear so much makeup though, she looked so much better back on the island. Kate tells Jack that someone is waiting for her. The obvious person would be Sawyer. But this show has so many misdirections, who knows who's really waiting for her. It could be Ben for all we know. Also who's viewing did Jack go to, but that no one else went to? For some reason I'm guessing it's John Locke, although would he ever really leave the island?

So it looks like I'll be watching Season 4 soon.

themusicaddict

BYU-Tulsa Wrap Up, Happy New Year's Eve!

2011-12-30T16:30:00.005-07:00

Hello,

Yesterday in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl BYU played Tulsa. This was a very ugly game, two mediocre teams battling it out. Both teams are led by mediocre quarterbacks. I can't remember a game where both quarterbacks missed so many wide open receivers. BYU ultimately won 24-21. Riley Nelson returns for his senior season, usually a BYU quarterback returning for their senior season would make me giddy. However Nelson is a solid but not a superstar quarterback. He doesn't fit in the mold of the so-called classic BYU quarterback. BYU has had many great quarterbacks in their history and BYU fans are spoiled. In fact, BYU is the only school who has produced two quarterbacks who have won Super Bowls. They are Jim McMahon and Steve Young.

That game was a microcosm of Nelson's whole season. He had flashes of brilliance wrapped in an overabundance of mediocrity. Looking at his statistics today, they were horrific. He only completed 17 of 40 passes for 250 yards. Nelson missed his receivers all day. Obviously incompletions are a killer to having a successful offense. He also threw those three horrid interceptions. BYU got a break on one of those interceptions when Tulsa was called for offsides. BYU's Justin Sorenson then was able to kick a 35 yard field goal. That field goal ended up being the difference in the game. Nelson will never be confused for one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of BYU. However in spite of all that, BYU still won today. He did show how gutty he was by leading the Cougars to that win. He made the plays when they needed to be made.

Also I know it's Brandon Doman's first season as the offensive coordinator. So I'm giving him a pass for some of the horrific play calls he made yesterday, but I hope he gets a lot better next year. I hated that he called a double reverse. Quite simply BYU doesn't have enough team speed to run that play. Every time they run it, it gets blown up. Stop already. I also hated all the long pass plays that Doman called, especially on a day when Nelson was so inaccurate. Finally I hate when Doman, or any offensive coordinator, falls in love with the pass. BYU looked so much better when they mixed the pass and run. Please next season, plan your play calls around Nelson's strengths. Those strengths seem to be that he's a real leader and is liked by his teammates. He's also a very mobile quarterback, which is the thing that made him a better quarterback than Jake Heaps.

Questions about BYU football. Nelson will be returning for his senior year next season. That will be a good stopgap measure. But please can someone tell me that BYU has their next great quarterback in the pipeline. Nelson gives the Cougars what he can, but at best he's a mediocre D1 quarterback. Thanks Riley for all your hard work and I wish you the best of luck once your career at BYU is over. Also I'm so grateful you were there for us this season and we didn't have to rely on the stiff and overrated Jake Heaps.

However can someone please tell me we have the next great BYU quarterback in the pipeline? Two years of Heaps and Nelson almost make me long for the days of Max Hall. Almost.

I know that BYU has many great receivers and tight ends, but what happened to McKay Jacobsen this season? He sort of disappeared, I thought he'd be a much more integral part of their offense. Thanks McKay for all the highlights you provided for BYU in your career. I still remember that big catch you made against Utah which led to one of the most famous plays in BYU history. That being the Beck to Harline pass.

Also whatever happened to Joshua "Juice" Quezada? I thought this year was going to be a break out year for him. He only rushed for 274 yards and never lived up to the glimpses of brilliance he showed in his freshman season. Obviously I don't go to the practices so I have a very small sample of plays to truly judge Quezada by. I just hope that in his junior and senior seasons he will live up to his potential.

Finally never once did I think to myself that I wish Jake Heaps was still on the sideline for the Cougars. Kansas fans, don't expect very much from Heaps. He will just let you down. Yes I stole that from the Gin Blossoms. For BYU that's addition by subtraction. Jake good luck in your future, I just hope your expectations and Kansas' expectations are much more realistic than when you joined BYU.

Jerry Jones said that Tony Romo will be "playing at full strength", is that suppose to comfort Cowboys fans Jerry? This announcement shows what's wrong with the Cowboys. First to think that some Dallas fans are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to find out what's going on with Romo's health. Does it matter? Too bad he isn't the answer for Dallas, whatever his health. Romo is a quarterback who always seems to be on the cusp of finally breaking through, but never does. The second thing is why is Jones giving medical updates? It drives me crazy that Jones has to be involved in every thing related to the Cowboys. I get that he's the owner, but Jerry shut the hell up for once! I'm sure his employees hate it more than I do. It's not like Jerry Jones is Steve Jobs and is leading his organization to greatness.

I'm so sick of Jerry Jones. He's done a lot of great things for the Cowboys. I love that he built the new stadium, was able to have Dallas host the Super Bowl and hired Jimmy Johnson. However he's done a lot more bad things than good things. Hiring Wade Phillips, a man who'd never won a playoff game, as a head coach was one of his worst decisions. Dallas is still recovering from that disastrous hiring now. Jones stuck with Phillips for way too long. Now Jones is sticking by Romo as Dallas gets less and less relevant each year. Again a quarterback that has nice stats, but can't win a big game to save his life.

Some people make the argument that who would the Cowboys get to replace Tony Romo? I don't know but Dallas really needs to address their quarterback situation this offseason. Romo has been in Dallas for 9 seasons. He started out as a backup to the extremely immobile Drew Bledsoe. Romo worked his way into the starting lineup and teased us with his mobility. To give you an idea of how long Romo has been in Dallas, Romo's first start was three head coaches ago. However he has never stepped up his game beyond where it is now. Although he has thrown for 18 touchdowns and two interceptions over the last 8 games. That's an impressive statistic, but why does it feel so shallow? Why does Romo still fade so much in the big situations?

Also that Romo is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. If that's true, how thin is the talent level in the NFL for quarterback? I saw one misguided Cowboys fan say that Romo is the 4th best quarterback in the NFL. Really? I can think of several quarterbacks right off the top of my head that I'd rather have than Romo. These are in no particular order: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Michael Vick, Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Ben R. in Pittsburgh and I could go on.

Why are there so few great NFL quarterbacks?

I'll be hanging out with a friend Saturday, so I won't see any of the Utah-Ga Tech game. Go Utes! Can you please get the Pac 12 at least one bowl win? The Big East did get their first win yesterday. Rutgers defeated Iowa St. 27-13. Although to show that there are too many bowls, how did a 6-6 Iowa St. team get into a bowl? The Big East is now 1-1 in bowl games.

Here are some great songs for you to enjoy on your New Year's Eve. Don't do anything too stupid. Thanks as always to the military who put their lives on the line so that we can celebrate such silly traditions.

I agree with U2 about New Year's Day:

This is the breakout band, or at least should be, of the year. This is needtobreathe:

A typical crazy 80's video, but a great exercise song:

BYU-Tulsa today, Baylor-Washington Pinball Machine

2011-12-30T09:23:00.005-07:00

Hello,

Did you watch that Washington-Baylor game last night. That was amazing. It wasn't a game, it was a pinball machine. Here are some of the amazing stats from the game. There was a combined 59 first downs, 17 touchdowns, 123 points scored and 1,397 total yards. Heisman Award winner Robert Griffin "only" had 295 yards passing and 1 touchdown. He had 55 more yards rushing. Baylor had 3 100 yard rushers and RG3 wasn't one of them. That Terrance Ganaway is a man, 240 pounds of brute force. He rushed for 200 yards on only 21 carries, a rushing average of 9.5 yards per carry. And oh by the way he rushed for 5 touchdowns, including the one that gave Baylor the victory. Jarred Salubi and Tevin Reese were Baylor's other two 100 yard rushers.

Washington's Keith Price was the offensive juggernaut of the game though. He was 23 of 37 passing for 438 yards. He also threw for 4 touchdowns. On the ground he rushed 5 times for 39 yards on his way to 3 rushing touchdowns.

Obviously the theme of this game was great offense at the expense of two pathetic defenses. It was an exciting game but it continues another theme. This third loss in 3 bowl games continues to expose the Pac 12 for how pathetic of a football conference it is. I'll save how bad of a basketball conference it is for another blog. In their 3 bowl games the Pac 12 have lost all 3. It's obvious that defense isn't a forte in their conference. In the Pac 12's three bowl losses, they've given up 21, 56 and 67 points.

The next bowl game for the Pac 12 is when Utah plays the high powered Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Utah has a bruising, crushing defense so they'll be giving up a lot less points than either Washington or Arizona St. I guarantee that. However Utah has been operating without an effective quarterback all season so I have no idea how many points they will score. That should be a pretty good game, two evenly matched teams.

Another good game should be today's BYU-Tulsa game. BYU is easily the worst 9 game winners in the nation, I say that as an obsessive BYU fan. They've truly played some terrible teams this season, especially at the end of their schedule. Tulsa on the other hand has played some truly amazing teams this season. Tulsa has given up 47, 59, 41 and 48 points in games this season. Of course in those games they lost to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Boise State and Houston. All 4 teams were in the Top Ten at the time Tulsa played them. Those games where they gave up all those points were against amazing teams, way above the caliber of BYU. But Tulsa still has averaged giving up 4 TDs in points a game. Of course Tulsa scores 34 points a game. BYU has a better defense but a worse offense. They give up 2o.3 points per game and score 30.6 points per game.

I predict that both teams will score at least 21 points each, but wouldn't be surprised by a 38-37 final score. The game is about to start, Go Cougs!

themusicaddict

College Football Bowls!

2011-12-29T11:11:00.003-07:00

Hello,

I'll be cheering for you Kansas City on Sunday as you take on the extremely lame Broncos and the over hyped Tim Tebow. It's more likely that I'll watch that game than the Dallas-New York game. I don't expect much from the Cowboys. Even if they made the playoffs, they would probably get blown out in the first round. When asked about Jerry Jones staying the Cowboys GM if they don't make the playoffs, he said he probably would. The arrogance of Jerry Jones continues unabated. Jones wants his teams to be Super Bowl contenders, but he won't give up the GM job. That means that the 15 years of mediocrity will continue. I would think that Jones would want the best chance of winning the Super Bowl, if he does he needs to quit as GM.

Auburn Tigers, the darling of NCAA Football last season, crashed back to reality. When the Tigers were forced to play by the rules, they crashed back to mediocrity. With Cheating Cam going to the pros, the Tigers finished the regular season 7-5. They'll play the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday night in the Corporate Sponsor Bowl. Go Cavaliers!

Speaking of boring SEC teams, I'm excitedly not looking towards the Alabama-LSU rematch. I'd love for that game to finish 3-0. Could this be the most boring national title game ever?

Now a game that will be anything but boring is tomorrow's early afternoon battle between BYU and Tulsa. These are two evenly matched teams with both having relatively weak defenses. BYU has played a bunch of cupcakes this season, who knows how good they'll look tomorrow. The Golden Hurricanes give up a lot of points but also score a lot of points. There will probably be more points scored in a quarter than in a whole game of LSU-Auburn.

While I'm sick of hearing about the SEC, they do deserve all the praise they get. This league truly has a lot of good teams, although it would be nice to see another conference win the national title next season. With Matt Barkley coming back to USC, it would be nice to see the Trojans win the national title again.

However two of the alleged Big 6 conferences are showing their true colors. First of all the Big East, they just need to change their name to the pansy conference. They are being exposed and will continue to be so in this bowl season. The Big East is 0-1 so far in bowl play and won't break .500 in the 5 bowls they play in. Other than the one BCS bowl they are contractually guaranteed to play in, they play in 4 mediocre bowls. Both the Big East teams and the opponents they play are barely worthy to be in any bowl.

Another conference that's much hyped is the Pac 12. They'll be lucky, not good, to get at least two bowl victories in their 7 bowl games. The Pac 12 is so far 0-2 in bowl games and Washington will probably lose to Baylor and Heisman winner Robert Griffin 3 tonight. The fact that the Pac 12 should only be favored in one of their bowls speaks volumes. Obviously the first thing it says is that their are too many bowl games. Seriously when a 6-7 UCLA team qualifies for a bowl game, that's terrible.

Here are a couple of songs for you:

New Found Glory's "Summer Fling, Don't Mean A Thing":

I love how this song builds slowly and then starts to kick butt. Depeche Mode's "A Pain I'm Use To":

themusicaddict

Tony Romo's Injured Hand: Does It Matter?

2011-12-27T07:04:00.004-07:00

Hello,

All the talk about Tony Romo's injured hand has honestly cracked me up. Will he be able to play? Will the Cowboys go out and sign a veteran quarterback? In other words a quarterback that hasn't played in the NFL this year. I wracked my brain about which veteran quarterback they could sign. JaMarcus Russell? Or could you imagine seeing Brett Favre in Cowboys blue? Stay retired Brett. It cracks me up because all these things don't matter, the Cowboys are going to choke no matter what happens. There's a reason that the Cowboys have only won 1 playoff game in the last 15 years. There's a reason that Tony Romo has only won 1 playoff game in his time in Dallas.

That leads me to this, it's time to completely blow up the Cowboys. It's time to make significant changes instead of making a few minor, cosmetic changes. I'm tired of seeing the occasional flashes of brilliance in the midst of so much mediocrity. The Dallas Cowboys Top 5 needs: 1) A qualified general manager. 2) A head coach that can bring some life to this moribund franchise. 3) A defensive coordinator that can actually coach a defense. 4) A real quarterback that will actually take the Cowboys to the next level. It's time to give up on the Tony Romo experiment. 5) The Cowboys need to go out and get some players to be able to make the above 4 steps possible.

I'd love to see the Cowboys be relevant in the NFL discussion again. I'll believe that the Cowboys are serious about significant changes when they find a way to get Andrew Luck.

From one mission impossible to another mission impossible. I watched "Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol" on the IMAX screen yesterday. Originally I had no desire to see this movie, however after reading some positive reviews I really wanted to see it. It turned out to be okay. There are a lot of cool things about it. Seeing Tom Cruise running sideways on the tallest building in the world was cool. Hearing that amazing theme song amped up is cool. The stirring music of Russia is awesome.

This is one of the modern versions of the "Mission Impossible" theme:

Some of the music from Russia:

"Kremlin With Anticipation":

However overall it's a movie I could have lived without seeing. I'd give "MI4" a B-. I'm not real excited about any of the movies out this Christmas season. "War Horse" looks incredibly sappy and I'm afraid the movie is going to play with my emotions. "Tintin" and "Chipwrecked" are kids movies and with my kids I've seen so many boring movies. I'm sort of burned out of those. For instance, "Hugo" comes with great reviews. Too bad it's incredibly boring and way too long.

Other Christmas movies: "Sherlock Holmes": yawn. "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo": I loved the books. I can handle all the gore and sex when reading about it, but I don't want to see that on the big screen. "New Years Eve": I haven't heard anything good about it. The only other movie I might want to see is "The Darkest Hour". Not that I think it will be good, but because it seems like it's one of those movies I can go and turn my brain off and enjoy some explosions.

themusicaddict

Merry Christmas, Cowboys: Get Ready for the NFL Draft

2011-12-25T13:09:00.006-07:00

Merry Christmas,

Two years ago I worked 8 hours at Verizon Wireless. I was working customer service on the phones. It was a completely miserable job in every way and frankly a job that I wasn't very good at. Since Verizon is so greedy, they cut staff to ridiculously small amounts that day. That meant no breaks between calls for the customer service representatives. Those breaks between calls are what give sanity to people in call center jobs. Many callers waited up to 20 minutes to get to a rep. That was a crappy Christmas. (If you do call in a call center job, please be extremely nice to them. Unless you've worked a job like that you have no idea how crappy it is.)

Now two years later I'm working at a much better job and a much better job for me. Not only am I not working Christmas this year, I didn't work Christmas Eve or even December 23rd. I still have 8 more days off. I'm taking 11 straight days off and only using 3 vacation days. That's what happens when one works at a job that isn't open every day. How sweet is that? Oh and by the way when I started the job I'm currently working, I started making $5000 more a year. Also tonight my kids and I are hopefully going to be watching "It's A Wonderful Life", a movie that makes one realize how much worse one's life could be. This is the time of the year we should be the most grateful and I definitely am.

I also was able to go to church today and will be able to hang out with my kids the next few days. Thanks to all of those that have helped make my life so great.

One group of people not making my life so great is the wretched Dallas Cowboys. They are doing their annual December meltdown. With the Giants defeating the Jets yesterday that set up a winner takes all game between Dallas and New York on New Year's Day. The game has been flexed to Sunday Night Football. Great now a national audience can see my team destroyed in front of a nationwide audience. What is my prediction for this game? Well let's see an injured and choking Tony Romo will be starting for the Cowboys. Romo is a man that never seems to win the big game. Why would I expect him to be any better this year.

Dallas still has that pathetic looking defense, the Rob Ryan defense hasn't worked out like Cowboys fans would have liked. Philadelphia didn't have anything to play for yesterday either, but look how easily they run through the Cowboys. The Cowboys secondary is atrocious, I'm hoping this is Newman's last game with the Cowboys. How terrible has he been? I'm hoping they replace Newman with a bunch of new men.

My prediction the Giants will win quite easily. This reminds me a lot of the the 2008 game when Dallas went to Philadelphia and if Dallas won they would go to the playoffs. How did the Cowboys react to that clutch time situation? Just as they did in almost every other clutch like situation, a complete flop. They were humiliated and blown out by the Eagles 44-6. Will the Cowboys game be as bad a week from today? No, but I think that the Cowboys-Giants rematch will get ugly. Not only do the Cowboys choke in clutch situation but also New York completely owns Dallas. I wouldn't feel any more comfortable if the game was in Dallas.

Once the Cowboys lose and are eliminated from the playoffs it's time to make some changes. I realize this is something they seem to need to do every year. What Dallas needs the most is someone who knows what he's doing in the General Manager's chair. In other words Jerry Jones you got to go. Ever since Jones hired Jimmy Johnson, he's been atrocious at picking people to coach his team. Looking back now I wonder if Jones and Johnson weren't college teammates, would Jones have even known about him? With some of Jones more recent hires, the Johnson hiring looks a lot like luck now.

Because since then Jones track record has been hiring mediocre and terrible head coaches. Here are some names that send chills down the spines of all Cowboy fans. Barry Switzer, Wade Phillips, Dave Campo (twice), and Chan Gailey. I'm beginning to think Jason Garrett will end up as no better than a mediocre coach as well. Jones also did hire Bill Parcells which I thought was a great hire. Looking back now it even looks like a good choice, although it didn't produce as many victories as I thought it would.

Also Jerry could you please stop hogging the spotlight so much? There's no reason for you to ever go down on the field during a game. It's time for you to stop using the Cowboys as your personal vanity project.

Besides getting a high quality GM, it's time for the Cowboys to be looking for their next quarterback, Tony Romo isn't the answer. He never has been and he never will be. How many mediocre seasons will the Cowboys have before Dallas realizes they need to move on with their quarterback. This is where a good GM comes in handy. Sure Dallas could find a quarterback worse than Romo. If you don't improve as a team then what's the point? I'd rather have a steady progression of increasing wins every year and eventually winning a Super Bowl. That's so much better than 8-8 like this year or mediocre most years. Nobody builds their reputation on regular season wins anyway.

To my eyes Dallas rarely plays with heart. They also seem to be playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. I think the Cowboys have got use to and comfortable with being mediocre. After 15 years of the same thing, there must be some reason for their mediocrity.

Meanwhile Tampa Bay has completely thrown in the towel on the season. I didn't see any of their game with Carolina yesterday, but did they even try? How as a professional football team do you lose by 32 points? Especially to a lot less than mediocre Panthers team. A lot of it goes back to playing without heart.

Lastly I'm glad I jumped on the 49ers bandwagon a few years ago. I had no idea how good the 49ers would turn out to be. Jim Harbaugh has done a great job with the 49ers, this shows how much of an effect a great head coach can have on his team. While San Francisco has a great defense, they have a very mediocre offense. But still they somehow found a way to win yesterday, gutting out that big victory over Seattle yesterday. I wish I could have watched that game yesterday.

The intangibles of never giving up, fighting to the end and finding a way to win I think goes directly to the head coach and the kind of culture he installs in his team. Harbaugh has clearly installed those things in his first season. The 49ers only gave up their first rushing touchdown all season, again that's an amazing stat. The 49ers also continue to have the inside track on the NFC's #2 playoff seed. That's so crucial for the 49ers, that would give them a bye before their first playoff game.

With Kansas City giving the league the blueprints to how to beat Green Bay, I think San Francisco has a good shot of making the Super Bowl. How cool would that be? I suggest to both Dallas and Tampa Bay to watch and see how to be successful in the NFL. Green Bay plays tonight, they don't really have much to play for. They're about to clinch the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised if they rest some players tonight. However with Green Bay a fantastic organization, playing at home and having a lot of pride I expect Green Bay to thoroughly dominate the Bears. The Packers aren't like another team that's playing a home game, with little on the line that will lose 20-7.

themusicaddict

Fearful of Philadelphia, Go Bills!, Carlos Boozer's Christmas present

2011-12-24T09:09:00.003-07:00

Hello,

Just a quick blog today. Due to various family situations we are celebrating Christmas today.

With Christmas being tomorrow, most of the NFL games have been moved today. There are a lot of interesting games today:

1) The Battle of New York: Giants vs. Jets. Go Jets! Things I'd like to see from the Giants today. Manning throwing 4 picks, the Giants losing ugly and Tom Coughlin's head exploding arguing a call.

2) Dallas vs. Philadelphia: I'm cheering, sort of, for the Cowboys. But with their amazing ability to choke in big games, I don't have high hopes for their success. Don't be fooled that the Cowboys are playing at home or against a sub-.500 team, these Cowboys can still find a way to choke. As usual I won't be watching much, if any, of this game.

3) Denver vs. Buffalo. Tim Tebow is 7-2 as a starter, blah, blah, blah. Again I'm so sick of the Tim Tebow train. The cracks started showing last week when they were manhandled by the Patriots. With them going to Buffalo today, I hope the Tebow train is completely derailed. Although the only thing the Bills have to play for now is pride and a lesser draft pick. Obviously motivation will be a factor in

today's game. The Bills have little while the Broncos are fighting to make the playoffs. Strangely enough the team I'll be cheering for the most today is Buffalo. Go Bills!

Thanks Matt Barkley for coming back to the USC. I look forward for more good things for the Trojans next year.

Thanks Jake Heaps for transferring to Kansas. It does make me laugh that all of these Pac 12 teams he was rumored to possibly go to, he ends up with the traditionally bad Kansas. Yes I know the Jayhawks won a BCS Bowl just a few years ago and that their new head coach is Charlie Wies. However the Jayhawks are 55-67 over the last 10 years, including 2-10 last season. They ended the season on a 10 game losing streak. And as for Weis, he didn't win enough games to keep his job at Notre Dame! And he had the Notre Dame mystique working in his favor. What is he going to do when he has the Kansas football mystique, or lack thereof, not working in his favor?

Bulls fans, are you looking forward to Carlos Boozer's Christmas present tomorrow? He'll give you his annual lump of coal by disappearing in tomorrow's game. I don't know why people that know a lot about basketball, Bill Simmons, still think he's this great player. I watched him for many futile years in Utah. He could be a great player. However he doesn't have the heart or care enough to make himself so. He will continue to disappoint any team he's on until he's run out of the league in a few years. I guarantee he'll be cut or traded before his current Bulls contract runs out.

themusicaddict

TCU edges La. Tech, Boise St. Will Destroy ASU

2011-12-22T09:28:00.004-07:00

Hello,

When making my prediction about TCU easily beating La. Tech yesterday, I didn't take one factor into account. That factor being motivation. TCU was playing in a bowl game that's a lot lesser than they should have played in. Thus they didn't have a lot of motivation for this game and it clearly showed. Maybe if they had played a team from one of the alleged Big 6 conferences they would have had more motivation. For instance, last season when they played Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, they looked so good. However TCU did just enough to win the game. TCU finished the season 11-2 and ended with an 8 game winning streak. Next season TCU joins the Big 12.

Boise State plays tonight, their only loss was to TCU. They are ranked #7 in the nation and for some reason they are playing in the Las Vegas Bowl? Not only that but they are playing the ridiculously bad Sun Devils. The same Sun Devils team who finished 6-6. They lost their last 4 games and 5 of their last 6 games. Even worse they quit on their coach. How do they deserve to even be in a bowl game? Again it proves the old adage it's who you know more than anything else. It's why the BCS is so maddening: a team is more rewarded for who they know rather than how good they are.

I was a little nervous in my prediction about TCU beating La. Tech last night. I didn't know anything about La. Tech. I'm much more confident in my prediction about Boise State. I saw them dominate Georgia and play some other games. They will destroy hapless Arizona State. Although BSU plays in one of the so-called mid-majors and ASU plays in an alleged BCS conference, in terms of talent and heart these teams aren't even in the same league. The game starts at 6:00, I get home at 7:30 from work. I expect the game to be over for all intents and purposes by that point. I predict BSU will win by at least 4 touchdowns.

I expect BSU to play with 100% motivation. The only team they lost to, TCU, won their bowl game last night. This is quarterback Kellen Moore's last game at BSU and he'll be going for his 50th victory. Also the BCS is so bogus even mild mannered Chris Peterson is calling it out. BSU plays great in these stick it to the BCS games.

Also the Jazz played their second and last preseason game last night, they were able to edge Portland. Currently the Jazz are a team that's definitely trying to find their identity. Are they a team that's a team of the future or a team meant to win now or a combination of each? Hopefully they'll find that identity sooner rather than later. I don't know if the Jazz will be a good team this year, but they will be a fun team to watch. They have so many young, explosive players.

As we head into the final two regular season games of the NFL season, what will end up happening in Dallas? The Cowboys control their destiny, which frightens me more than them relying on other teams. Dallas has choked in most big situations over the last several years. I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose to Philadelphia at home on Saturday. Remember with Christmas being on Sunday, most games this week will be on Saturday.

As espn.com pointed out yesterday, Green Bay was 8-6 at this point in the season last year. Obviously they went on to win the Super Bowl. So Dallas can do the same thing right? Hardly Green Bay has a much better quarterback than Dallas. Also unlike Dallas they play their best in big games. Tony Romo has thrown 18 TDs and only 2 interceptions in the Cowboys last 7 games. Most fans would be happy if their team did that. As for me I'm afraid that means the Romocoaster has peaked and will now start going downhill. Knowing Dallas I'd still be very surprised if they even make the playoffs.

After reading the first 39 pages of Haruki Murakami's "1Q84", the thing I know the most is that Murakami loves writing about sex. I like the characters and am wondering how they'll all eventually cross paths, if they end up doing so.

A couple of quick music notes. I love Kelly Clarkson. But her new CD "Stronger" is just not very good. I hate to say that. It sounds like something someone in corporate America put together to sale the most copies possible. The key seems to be sales and not quality. Also as for Tori Amos' new CD, "Night Of The Hunters", it's just weird. Tori Amos exploded on the scene with the amazing "Little Earthquakes", but unfortunately that was her peak.

Do you think she made all of these videos at about the same time? Here's a few of the amazing songs from "Little Earthquakes":

"Silent All These Years":

"Winter":

"China":

themusicaddict

January Bookclub selection, "1Q84", Go TCU and Derrick Rose gets a raise

2011-12-21T10:23:00.007-07:00

Hello,

I know your dying to have an update on whether I watched the two part season finale of "Terra Nova" yet. I haven't watched it yet. Initially I was going to watch it out of a sense of duty as I had watched the first 11 episodes. My excitement level has gone up a bit because I've read good reviews about the finale. Last night instead I watched the newest episode of "Rizzoli and Isles". I love this show as it features the gorgeous Angie Harmon and since it has such a great sense-of-humor. This past weeks episode, "Don't Stop Dancing Girl" wasn't as good as usual. I look for "Rizzoli and Isles" to return to top form for next week's season finale. I love that some of my favorite shows are still having new episodes this time of year.

Today I have a more time than I did last night so I may watch "Terra Nova" tonight. Although tonight is also the Corporate Sponsor Poinsettia Bowl. It's 10-2 TCU vs. 8-4 La. Tech and I'll be cheering on the Horned Frogs. I don't think it will be a very good game. TCU should be playing in a BCS bowl not some anonymous bowl. I expect TCU to have the game in hand by half-time. Next season TCU is going to a BCS conference, I actually expect them to do about as well as they are doing now. Also tonight the Jazz have their second and last preseason game as they'll be playing Portland in a rematch. I expect a better game from the Jazz tonight than that first game they played Monday night. I'm predicting the rise of Derrick Favors, the next Jazz superstar. He's fun to watch play. I hated the Jazz losing Deron Williams, but the trade seems to be working out very well for the Jazz.

Also sources, not mine but ESPNs, say that Derrick Rose is close to signing a 5 year-$95 million dollar contract with the Chicago Bulls. Since I'm not a Bulls fan, I normally wouldn't mention this. However in this case I'm glad that Chicago has finally made him the highest paid player on their team. The defending MVP is by far the best player on that team. There's no way Carlos Loozer should be making more than Rose. I was hoping that the Bulls would use their amnesty provision on Carlos Boozer. It's amazing he hasn't gone on the injury list yet though.

I didn't announce a December themusicaddict book club selection. However I'm announcing January's book club selection now. I'm making the announcement now as the book is so long, 925 pages. The book is Haruki Murakami's "1Q84". I've read the first 20 plus pages so far and it's very intriguing. I'm not sure that I'll finish it though. At the library I have Stephen King's "11/22/63" on hold and I'm going to be able to pick it up soon. I read it's excerpt that was in Entertainment Weekly and I'm already sucked into King's latest book. For me his writing is feeling like going home again. He's a great author and I love his books. I also love that his books as are so long. It's a different world I can get lost in for several hundred pages. So far that seems to be the same with the Murakami book.

I'm wondering if I'm the only one that is getting sick of the glut of reality show singing competitions. I hear that "X Factor" is ending this week and talk is already beginning about Season 2. I haven't seen any of the first season of "X Factor". From what I've read it seems I haven't missed much. There's also "The Voice" which seem like it just ended. Now it's starting up again right after this year's Super Bowl. Then in mid-January "American Idol" is starting it's 11th season. I've pretty steadily watched that show the last several years. But as of now I'm undecided about whether I'll watch this season. "AI" brings back those 3 lame judges again. It always amazes me when a new season of "AI" starts and Randy Jackson still has a job. Also "AI" is very manipulative, which makes this alleged reality show even more artificial. Let's hope this is the last season of "American Idol".

I went through amazon.com's Top 100 MP3 CDs today to see if there was anything worth adding to my collection. Of course I check out everything first on Spotify. (Did I tell you yet that I love Spotify?) The first CD I listened to is Young the Giant's self-titled CD. amazon.com is selling this CD for only $2.99. I enjoyed this CD and it has a few good songs on it. Here are a couple of good songs from that CD:

This is "My Body":

"Apartment":

I enjoyed Young The Giant, but Laura Marling bored me to tears. I could only listen to a couple of her songs. Also a CD that has received a lot of love over the years is Neutral Milk Hotel's "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea". I don't understand the hype, I think this CD sucks. While checking out Spotify, I did stumble across the soundtrack for "Hot Tub Time Machine". I'm enjoying that now as it's hard to go wrong when a CD full of 80's classics.

From "Hot Tub Time Machine", one of my all-time favorite 80's songs. Echo and the Bunnymen's "Bring On The Dancing Horses". This song has that 80's feel to it. This is also on excellent "Pretty In Pink" CD.

Other great songs, including the original J. Lo:

Jennifer Love Hewitt's "Rock The Roll". This is a funky song. Even if you don't like song, enjoy the pictures. Jennifer you are forgiven for that awful "The Ghost Whisperer".

I love this song:

My favorite Trans Siberian Orchestra song, "Wizards In Winter":

The almost my favorite but not quite favorite Trans Siberian Orchestra song: "Queen of The Winter Night":

This is a song I heard on iTunes the other day and I liked it. A very funky and fun song:

There are a lot of songs about opening up your eyes. Tonic and Daughtry have songs with a similar title, but this is the best song. The band is 12 Stones:

Last but definitely not least is Jet's intensely funky "Are You Gonna Be My Girl":

themusicaddict

I Chose 49ers-Steelers over "Terra Nova"

2011-12-20T09:29:00.007-07:00

Hello,

Yesterday I wrote about how I couldn't decide which to watch: Monday Night Football or the two part season finale of "Terra Nova". With the game getting closer and this being such a big game I decided to watch the game. I haven't been able to see San Francisco play much this year. Also they are battling for the the #2 seed in the NFC and this was a good chance to see how good of a team they are.

With them winning 20-3 it's needless to say San Francisco performed very well. Alex Smith will never break any records, but he played well enough for the 49ers to win last night. Both teams are known for their tough defenses and both were on display last night. That brutally ugly 6-0 halftime score told you all you need to know. San Francisco's defense is so good that I think they could win the Super Bowl this year. After Kansas City exposed Green Bay's flaws, they look beatable.

San Francisco leads the NFL in takeaways with 35. Amazingly the 49ers haven't allowed a rushing touchdown all season. After playing 14 games, that's just amazing. It was funny watching Pittsburgh try to run on that tough defense. Pittsburgh, at 10-4, is a good team. They are tied for first place with Baltimore in the AFC North. This was a great, great victory for San Francisco. It should build their confidence if they play in Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game.

Although I wasn't overwhelmed with excitement for the NBA to return, I watched part of the Jazz-Trailblazers preseason game last night. I thought the Jazz didn't look very good, but in their first game of the season I didn't expect them too. They looked like a young, inexperienced team that hasn't played together long enough. That's exactly what they are. Honestly the only ones I recognized were Memo Okur, Al Jefferson, Enes Kanter and Gordon Hayward. The player I enjoyed watching the most was Derrick Favors. He scored 25 points and had 12 rebounds and looked very good in the part of the game I watched. The Jazz have a bright future if they can get all these various parts to jell.

As for "Terra Nova", when will I watch that? Well I won't watch it tonight as I only have a 2.5 hour window between getting home and needing to go to bed. Also there was a new "Rizzoli and Isles" last night. That's what I'll be watching tonight. I could watch "Terra Nova" Wednesday night. But that's the night of one of the Screwed by the BCS bowls.

In the corporate sponsor Poinsettia Bowl 10-2 TCU will play the powerhouse of the the South 8-4 Louisiana Tech. Even though this TCU team isn't as good as the team that won the Rose Bowl last year, they are still very good. They should beat La. Tech pretty easily.

On Thursday night in the corporate sponsor Las Vegas Bowl, Boise St. will play in the other Screwed by the BCS Bowl Game. BSU got the shaft not only in what bowl they play in but who their opponent is. BSU is playing a team from one of the alleged BCS conferences. They play the Pac 12 Arizona State, the same team that quit on their coach late in the season. The same coach that has already been replaced. Even if ASU was playing at their best, BSU should still win this game easily. However I'm guessing that ASU won't be giving 100% and I expect a BSU romp in this game.

While BSU and TCU got shafted and won't play in a BCS Bowl, instead we have the corporate sponsor Overrated Bowl. Due to how screwed up the BCS is there will be two 3 loss teams playing in that alleged BCS Bowl. People will say that TCU and BSU didn't play as tough as schedules. As whom? Both the Big Least and the ACC were very mediocre conferences this year. I don't think either conference deserve to be BCS conferences.

I love that the Rangers will spend $51.7 million for the opportunity just to talk to Yu Darvish. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. I remember when the Red Sox won the rights to talk to Daisuke Matsuzaka. They signed him just a little over 5 years ago. Boston paid 51.1 million just for the right to talk with Matsuzaka. Then on December 14th, 2006 Matsuzaka signed with the Red Sox for $52 million more.

I was so excited when they actually signed him and added them to their rotation. I was seeing Red Sox World Series Championships in the future. They did win one World Series with him on the roster. He was 2-1 with a .503 ERA in that playoffs. However overall Daisuke has been a big bust. Matsuzaka has won a total of 51 games for the Red Sox in his 5 years with the Red Sox. That's right the Red Sox have paid $2million for each Matsuzaka win.

It's also highly unlikely he'll get any more wins for the Red Sox. Currently he's recovering from Tommy John surgery and likely won't be available to the Red Sox until the middle of the season at the earliest. I'd be surprised if the Red Sox will actually have him come back. He's just been a bust. He'll go down as one of the two worst signings in the Theo Epstein era. The other being the Jon Lackey signing, who strangely enough is also recovering from Tommy John surgery. It would be nice if MLB had partially non guaranteed contracts like the NFL does. Then the Red Sox could cut both players and save themselves money.

I have started reading a lot of books over the last several months. But last night I finished the first book that I can remember in the longest time. I finished reading "The Lost World", Michael Crichton's sequel to "Jurassic Park". I liked the book, although it's nowhere is in the same league as "Jurassic Park". The main lure of "Lost World" is the same as in "Terra Nova" the coolness of dinosaurs. That's especially the velociraptors. Or as they call them in "Terra Nova" slashers.

Anyway the ending of the book was predictable. Of course Ian Malcolm, Sarah Harding and most of the others got off the island. Thankfully Crichton put a little twist in that. The helicopter scheduled to pick them up didn't wait. There was a boat house that they had to make their way too to escape the island. I wish that Crichton would have the ending where the survivors couldn't get off the island. And that they had to stay on the island, learn how to adapt and survive.

Wednesday and Thursday I'll be watching football, no "Terra Nova" those nights. On Friday my brother and his family will be coming into town. Then we'll be celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve. So I won't be able to watch "Terra Nova" that morning or afternoon. Maybe after I take my kids home I can watch it. If it had been a better show, my urgency would be much higher to watch it. ew.com had 6 steps that could help to save the show. But I suggest this show isn't good enough to save.

Lastly and leastly David Archuleta has announced he's going on a LDS Mission. Grainy video shows him stuttering over his words and he's overcome with emotion as he announces his decision to a cheering crowd. While that's something he should do, why did he make such a big deal out of it? It will be a great experience for him and make him a much better person. Although it cracks me up that it seems he has his mission call already, but both the LDS Church and he are being mum about where he's going. This isn't like Justin Bieber or someone extremely famous going on a mission.

I know this is rude, but he's extremely over rated and it will be nice not to have to hear about him for two years. Although he'll be gone for two years this will be one way to keep himself in the news. He will probably interview with all the local papers wherever he goes. I hope he presents the mission as a good thing and not something he's doing because he hasn't become a big musical star.

And if many failed "American Idols" are going on missions this could double the numbers of missionaries in the world.

Bob Marley's "Positive Vibration":

This song comes from the October 27th, 2011 Rolling Stone's playlist issue. The playlists for the most part, but Merle Haggard's Playlist is "Songs I Wish I'd Written" and this was one of those songs. The following video only has 659 views.

Another song that Merle Haggard wished he had written:

Also the ultimate version of this song. I think the main reason Willie Nelson came to earth was to sing this song:

Merle mentioned 10 songs he'd wished he'd written, the song below is the last one I'll highlight.

Here's a couple of free songs you can get from iTunes today:

Billie Holiday's "Just One More Chance":

Unfortunately I can't find a youtube.com video for this song.

From "The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams" is this song by Jack White. From a shoebox full of lyrics written by Hank Williams Sr. some musicians were recruited to write music for those lyrics. You can see those musicians on the below video. This is my favorite song on the CD, "You Know That I Know":

I'm not sure why my music theme is old country music today, but here are a couple of more.

A heartbreakingly beautiful song by Skeeter Davis:

And since I mentioned Merle Haggard earlier, here are a few classics by him, "Mama Tried":

Unfortunately this is probably a very appropriate song for many people right now, "If We Make It Through December":

and finally a song that I relate to so well even though I'm not a drinker:

Also since I mentioned Hank Williams Sr. and since I love Johnny Cash, this will be my goodbye song.

themusicaddict

Monday Night Football or "Terra Nova", Enjoying the Tim Tebow train derailing

2011-12-19T11:41:00.004-07:00

Hello,

I wasn't able to watch the Denver-New England game yesterday, but I followed it online. I admit I was glad that the Tim Tebow train crashed. I enjoyed watching the highlights this morning on ESPN, for the Broncos they were lowlights. The allegedly mobile Tebow was sacked 4 times. That includes a hilarious him running the wrong way to escape pressure which resulted in a 28 yard sack. Have you ever heard of a 28 yard sack before? Tim just throw the ball away. Is he believing all the hype about how great of a player he is? I'm guessing he was under the impression that he would escape and make a spectacular play. Welcome to the NFL Tim.

Again his stats were mediocre. Besides the 4 sacks he only completed half of his 22 passes. He threw for 194 yards with a 80.5 quarterback rating. Again those are mediocre stats that show how much he's a creature of hype. Sarcasm alert: the amazing Tim Tebow also had two fumbles, including losing one. The fumble that he lost he didn't even go after and try to recover. I know that Tim Tebow also runs for a lot of yards. And for a quarterback he's very good at that, he had 12 carries and 93 yards yesterday. But at the end of the day does he really have the tools to be a top flight NFL quarterback? I still say "no".

It looks quite likely that the Broncos will make the playoffs as they play in the underachieving AFC West. They definitely have their destiny in their own hands and at this point of the season that's all you can ask for. They play two sub .500 teams to close out their regular season. Most of the NFL games are on Saturday, Christmas Eve, this week. Buffalo that would be a nice Christmas present if you could beat Denver on Saturday.

Thank you again New England for beating Denver and temporarily derailing the Tebow train. Let's hope this is the beginning of the end for the Tebow train. I'm chuckling at that 28 yard sack still.

Tonight I have a tough decision. Should I watch the two part season finale of "Terra Nova" or Monday Night Football? "Terra Nova" for the most part has been a disappointment. Tonight's finale seems like it could be full of cliches and also very predictable. This show has cool characters and the dinosaurs are amazing. But the stories are lame. The Taylor Father-Son dynamic is very boring. The battle with the Sixers is also boring. It's obvious who's going to win that battle. Also people will come from 2149 and try to take over Terra Nova for their own purposes. I know we are suppose to be in agony wondering if Taylor et al. can fight off the intruders. Come on, is there any doubt who's going to win. I also wouldn't be surprised that some of the Sixers join the Terra Novans to repel the people from the future.

So although I'm not expecting too much from tonight's finale, I will probably watch it in the next day or two. All I ask is that it not be as stupid as the Season One finale for "The Killing". In spite of "Terra Nova" having some good things about it, I think that Fox it's time to pull the plug on this experiment. At the end of the day this isn't much better than an average show.

Also tonight is the Monday Night Football matchup between San Francisco and Pittsburgh. It should be quite a battle. With the Dallas Cowboys fighting to make the playoffs and Tampa Bay crashing, San Francisco is my lone team with a chance to do some damage in the NFL playoffs. I'd feel a lot more confident about their chances if they can beat the Steelers tonight. This is a very good Pittsburgh team.

Between "Terra Nova" and Monday Night Football, I'm not sure which one I'll be watching. I guess that it will work out that I'll probably watch some of both. I think the San Francisco-Pittsburgh matchup has the potential to be much more entertaining.

Thanks to my friends at Spotify, I've really been enjoying Pia Frampton's music lately. Her post- "The Voice" CD "Red" is fairly good. But when that finishes playing and Spotify continues on to her earlier music I suggest you continue listening. Her previous music is also quite good. I like a lot of music she made with Meg Frampton. Pia definitely has a lot of talent and I expect we'll be seeing a lot of her over the next several years.

Okay here are some songs that have caught my attention lately.

"Don't Shoot Shotgun":

"Bad Romance" live:

From the amazing "Evita" soundtrack this is "Rainbow Tour". I'm sorry to say this is the last relevant thing Madonna has done.

There's so much joy in this song:

themusicaddict

Dallas Wins, Giants Get Stomped At Home (Ha, Ha)

2011-12-18T14:05:00.003-07:00

Hello,

The mediocre NFC East continues to show its true colors. Last night the Cowboys beat the Bucs pretty handily. Clearly Tampa Bay is just going through the motions now. I mean how good can they be? Not only did Tampa Bay lose 8 games in a row but they also lost to the Cowboys at home. Speaking of the Cowboys: I've been able to confirm that they aren't changing their name to the Dallas Chokeboys.

With a Giants win today they would have the inside track to the NFC East's only playoff spot. However at home they went out and laid an egg. They lost to the already eliminated from the playoffs, but still clearly motivated Washington Redskins 23-10. The over rated Eli Manning threw three interceptions as the Giants have now lost 5 of 6 games. Both the Giants and Cowboys are so awful that honestly neither belongs in the playoffs. If the Giants don't make the playoffs, this will be their third consecutive year of not making the playoffs. Also their third consecutive year of melting down. That makes me laugh. It would then be time to fire Tom Coughlin, one of the most annoying NFL head coaches ever.

With Dallas winning last night, that now gives the Cowboys the inside track to the NFC East playoff spot. But this is the NFC Least where only one thing is guaranteed. That is that a team from the NFC East will make the playoffs. That's because at least one team from each division is guaranteed a playoff spot.

Dallas closes out the season by playing Philadelphia at home. It will be interesting to see which Eagles team shows up. Will they be like the Bucs and have clearly given up on the season? Or will they be like the Redskins and come in highly motivated? Then Dallas goes to play the Giants on the last weekend of the season. Honestly I think the winner of that game will represent the NFC East in the playoffs.

New York meanwhile goes to play the Jets next weekend, I see the Jets winning that game. But with Dallas choking so much, I see the Giants winning their last game of the season.

Even if Dallas somehow crawls into the playoffs, it will only be one and done for them. Then it will be another offseason in Big D full of recriminations and minor changes while the Mavericks and the Texas Rangers continue to impress. And it will be another off season when the big change that needs to happen isn't made again. That change that won't happen is that Jerry Jones will remain the General Manager of the Cowboys. The cycle of mediocrity will continue on.

Also some congratulations to hand out. Congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts for finally getting their first win of the season. With Peyton Manning hopefully back to full health next season, they should be back in the thick of the playoff picture. If they get the chance they should definitely draft Andrew Luck. I wish the Cowboys could, I would love to see a real quarterback in Dallas. That would be their first real quarterback since Troy Aikman.

Also congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs for knocking off the Green Bay Packers. The Chiefs put Green Bay's 19 game winning streak to an end.

Now please New England please beat the hell out of the Broncos. Somebody needs to end the Tim Tebow train's run. It has been the most over hyped story of the year. Go Patriots!

themusicaddict

Merry Christmas, One week early!

2011-12-18T12:53:00.005-07:00

Hello,

"The Hallelujah Chorus" in all it's glory. I've heard this song sung by many groups and many amazing performances. However I think the Mormon Tabernacle Choir does it the best. Enjoy.

A very quirky Christmasy song, this is Jeremy Fisher's "Snowflakes":

I'm not real happy with the versions of "Carol of the Bells" on youtube.com. I'm not a big fan of TSO's version. This is the best version I could find:

"You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch" This is my favorite version of this song on youtube.com:

The sexiest Christmas song ever:

I watched "Made of Honor" last night. I know watching a chick flick all by myself, how embarrassing. But it was a free movie on Comcast On Demand. The movie was decent, a great video movie. But the thing I liked most about the movie was the great songs in it. The songs were used perfectly to set the mood as well. Here's a selection of those songs:

"You Give Me Something":

Snap's "The Power":

Dorothy Moore's "Misty Blue":

The very amazing Sara Bareilles "Love Song":

Those four songs and a few other good songs are all in "Made Of Honor", now here's a couple of other great songs that caught my attention this past week.

Sons of Sylvia's "Love Left To Lose":

And yet another classic from the 80's by Mr. Terence Trent D'arby:

themusicaddict

Guns N' Roses Salt Lake City 12/13/2011 (Final draft)

2011-12-15T14:08:00.011-07:00

Hello,

A little over a month ago when I found out that Guns N' Roses was going to be playing in Salt Lake I was very excited. Like Rosebud was for Charles Foster Kane, this band was one of my favorite things about growing up. It was both a chance to hear some of the greatest songs ever again but to take a time machine briefly back to the 80's. I miss how amazing the music of the 80's was. On one radio station you could hear "When Doves Cry", change the station and hear "People Are People", change the station again and hear "Welcome To The Jungle".

Guns N' Roses kicked butt in Salt Lake Tuesday night. While the band has lost their element of danger and never knowing what's going to happen, they still know how to kick butt. Axl Rose didn't have one meltdown the whole night. And he had the opportunity, like when the band messed up on the start of "Better" in the encore. The newly reconstituted Guns N' Roses represented their legacy very well. Guns N' Roses performed 26 songs on the night over three hours. For the record I know that the so called "instrumental jams" are considered songs by many, I don't count them as such.

I went with someone that's very cool and is a good friend. Thanks to her for her being my time keeper. Our seats were amazing. We sat about 30 feet from the stage. Axl and the other band members came and played to us all night.

I was very worried that this concert would be a disaster and was afraid of all the things that could go wrong. I don't know how much going into the concert with lower expectations helped, but many more things went right than wrong. I had been worried for nothing, Axl and the boys put on an amazing show. Axl Rose is nearly 50 and he still sings great. He and his bandmates had plenty of energy the entire night.

I work with a person who works security at many of the concerts that come to Salt Lake. He told me that Axl showed up to the Maverick Center at 10:45. Guns N' Roses took the stage at 11:00. The the person told me that Axl stayed there until about 6:00am. GN'R played most of their classics and a few songs from "Chinese Democracy". I actually broke down songs played by CD. Guns N' Roses performed 7 songs each from "Appetite For Destruction", "Chinese Democracy" and the two "Use Your Illusion" CDs. They also performed one song from "GN'R Lies" and did 4 covers. Sorry fans of "The Spaghetti Incident", they didn't perform any songs from that.

The show kicked off about 9:00ish with Black Label Society playing for about a hour until 10:20. The cutie I went with noticed I was keeping notes of the concert. When Black Label Society was done playing, she asked me how I could tell what songs they had played. I told her I couldn't and she asked me what I had been writing down. I showed her my notes for their set, I'd written "unintelligible" for most of their songs. I've seen Black Label Society in concert before and they were a lot better then. But on this night they were horrible, every one of their songs sounded exactly alike. It's just punishing rock riffs without any nuance. Zakk Wylde was screaming and not singing and for me that gets old real fast. Also someone needs to take Zakk aside and tell him how boring a 10-15 minute solo is.

After Black Label Society left the stage I was worried that we were going to be in for an interminable wait. But a little after 11:00 the house lights went off and Guns N' Roses came on. Although Guns N' Roses is skipping some of their classic songs, Axl insists on playing many songs off of "Chinese Democracy". The CD does have a few good songs, but I could have lived without "Madagascar" just fine. Especially when they perform that in the encore.

Following the self-titled song off their latest CD, Guns N' Roses played three songs that gives the band their reputation as one of the greatest bands of all-time. They played "Welcome To The Jungle", "It's So Easy" and then "Mr. Brownstone". Three of the classic songs that define the greatness of "Appetite For Destruction". During those songs I was playing some fantastic air guitar and the air drums.

Following that blast from there was a screen that said Guns N' Roses in a rhythmic pattern and we chanted that briefly. But apparently the band got bored of that quickly. Only a few seconds of that and then they ripped into their next song. It's another "Chinese Democracy" song "Sorry". Then for the first time all night Axl spoke to the crowd. He commented "how ya doin'" and said that we were a "great audience". Then Guns N' Roses powered through three more hard charging songs. One of those three songs was "Estranged". I don't know why Axl loves that song so much. That's a song that works so much better on record than live. And how much better would this song be at 7 minutes?

"Estranged":

Following "Estranged" it was time for the "Rocket Queen". Again the boys in the band kick some butt, but I can only handle so many instrumental jams/solos. It's such a cliche to have these solos at a rock concert. If you really must have the solo, can you please work the solo into the song? Richard Fortus played the night's first solo. According to setlist.fm his solo incorporated the James Bond theme, although I didn't recognize it. In one of the most bizarre moments that I've ever seen at a rock show, Axl and the boys were given the key to West Valley City. That's what I mean about losing that sense of danger? How dangerous can a band be if they are getting the key to the city? Both the person that I was with and I wondered if that was real or not. Apparently it was. Bizarre.

Next the band tore through "Live and Let Die", another song that works so much better on record than live.

They followed that up with another "Chinese Democracy" song "This I Love". Next it was time for Tommy Stinson to step up with a brief solo and sing "Sonic Reducer". That happened about 12:05, just 1/3rd of the way through the concert. And in spite the concert only being 1/3rd over a steady steam of people started leaving the Maverick Center.

It seemed every time Axl wasn't singing he ran into a specially built room on the side of the stage. He introduced the rest of the band and then left the stage. A piano was brought out from under the second tier of the stage and it was time for Dizzy Reed's solo. He played the Who classic "Baba O'Riley". That lead into another "Chinese Democracy" song followed by the "Terminator 2" song "You Could Be Mine".

Next up was DJ Ashba's solo. Again according to setlist.fm the song he built his solo around was for "Mi Amor". Ashba is an electrifying guitarist as he played to the audience all night long. I'd suggest that he's a guitarist equal to Mr. Saul Hudson. After Ashba's solo the rest of his band joined him and they played a fairly entertaining instrumental jam. This was the fourth instrumental jam of the night and by this time it was getting boring. There's a reason people don't release CDs of jams, they wouldn't sell.

Then a few seconds later one of the most iconic songs opening ever, it was time for "Sweet Child O' Mine". This was one of the many highlights of the night. That was followed by Axl's solo, he played a bit of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2". That included Axl singing the classic chorus about teachers leaving those kids alone. Axl continued his solo with some instrumental covers of Elton John songs. I heard "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" as one of those songs.

The 16th song that Guns N' Roses performed was "November Rain". Again a song that seems longer than it needs to be, especially when they play it with a 3 minute intro. That was followed by Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal playing his solo built around the "Pink Panther" theme. Now that was cool and he and the rest of the band really rocked it out. I have video on my blog for yesterday if you are interested. That was followed by "Don't Cry" and then AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" with Zakk Wylde joining the band on the stage. He and Axl exchanged a bro hug after that song.

A couple of minutes later they played "Civil War", a song they've just recently added to this tour's set list. It was another great song as the time passed 1:05. The audience continued to stream out, with only the true diehards staying.

Leading up to the encore GN'R played "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and then "Nightrain". Again I do appreciate a 3 hour concert but "Knockin'" was stretched out too long. This was my favorite encore break ever, GN'R was off the stage for only about 30 seconds. The encore, which started about 1:25, was made up of 4 jams and 5 songs, with some of the songs featuring solos. I understand Axl wanting to highlight some of the other band members. But maybe during the encore they can just play 5 great songs in row?

The encore started out with yet another solo- I'd stopped keeping track who this one was by. That led into "Madagascar" which is lot better live than on record. Although I argue that song doesn't really belong in the encore. How about a couple of "Appetite" classics like "Think About You" or "Anything Goes". Or they also could play one of their catchiest songs of all-time, "Pretty Tied Up". And if they really have to play a "Chinese Democracy" song here, why can't it be "I.R.S."?

Next up they played the best song off of "Chinese Democracy", that song being "Better". That song belongs in the encore, it's such a great song. Then another instrumental and another throw away song, a cover of AC/DC's "Riff Raff":

Again a throw away song in my opinion that shouldn't be anywhere near GN'R's encore. It was the second AC/DC song they played on the night. I've listened to a lot of AC/DC over the years and had never heard that song before. So after that throw away song then yet another throw away instrumental jam. The jams had reached the point where they were now getting ridiculous. After that it was time for "Patience", then at least the 10th jam of the night and then they closed with "Paradise City". And again "Paradise City" was stretched out longer than it should have been.

According to the time on the above youtube.com video, the song they played is the same length as the version on the record. However it still feels a bit long. At about the 3:45 mark it feels this song should be wrapping up, but it just has passed the halfway point. I read a review that suggested what Axl needs is someone that can help him edit the songs. I agree, especially on a song such as "Estranged". That could be a great song, but is stretched out too long.

Also the above video shows that for some reason after having a good mix between the music and the vocals. About two thirds of the way through the show the mix started to favor the music. And when I say favor I mean the music overpowered the vocals. Axl's lyrics were drowned out most of the time for the last 1/3rd of the concert.

The show ended after 2:00am and the few thousand remaining diehards left satisfied. So all in all a great night for rock and roll. I loved how many songs they played, singing nearly everyone of their great songs. The only thing I would have changed was to take about 15 minutes of the solo/jams. They are such great musicians it didn't completely stop the show, but the show did slow down.

Overall I'd give the concert an A-.

themusicaddict

Highlights of GN'R in SLC December 13th, 2011

2011-12-14T15:38:00.003-07:00

Hello,

Last night I saw Guns N' Roses in Salt Lake. Quite simply it was 3 hours of some of the best songs ever written. Do you realize how many great songs Guns N' Roses have? My full review will be coming tomorrow. At least the beginning of it.

For now I'm posting videos for some of the songs that were some of last night's and this morning's highlights. None of these songs were filmed at last night's concert. If Axl really must have a "Chinese Democracy" song in the encore, it should be this song. This is such a great song, the best song on that CD.

Also one final thing the hottie I went with asked me if I thought that Axl had plastic surgery. I had two thoughts about. That's a question that a girl definitely would ask. And yes I think that he has had plastic surgery. How unrock and roll of him.

"Better":

This song is always a highlight for me as it's my favorite G N' R song:

This song wasn't really a highlight and I'm not really sure why Axl loves it so much, "Estranged":

Now this "Welcome to the Jungle" was filmed in Salt Lake City:

Another video performed in Salt Lake, this is "November Rain". Obviously cell phones aren't meant to be recording devices. The sound at the concert was 100% better than this.

This "November Rain" sounds a lot better:

A couple of other songs that were highlights last night:

I quite like this solo on the "Pink Panther" theme by Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal:

This isn't my favorite song by Guns N' Roses, but it really kicked butt last night. Also this video shows very well what the stage looks like that GN'R is using on their current tour. We had great seats, when the band members ran up on those ramps on the sides of the stage, we were only about 20 or 30 feet away.

"Civil War" with the so called classic lineup:

"Nightrain". "I love that stuff".

From about a month ago, "Paradise City":

This is an interesting version of "Paradise City" featuring Cypress Hill, Fergie (the girl can sing) and Slash.

themusicaddict

The Annual Dallas Cowboys Debacle, Dwight Howard Shut The Hell Up!

2011-12-13T13:41:00.004-07:00

Hello,

You can tell the NBA season is about to start Dwight Howard is whining about where he wants to play. I've never seen a man whine so much. Howard reminds me of a teenage girl that doesn't get enough attention. Both are having drama to get more attention. Neither care if it's bad attention as long as they are getting any attention. Dwight stop being so pathetic. No matter where he ends up this season he'll be whining where he wants to play next season.

Also like a teenager nothing is good enough for him. Howard represents the entitled, spoiled NBA star. Instead of making the best of a situation, he whines until the situation is improved. Howard represents many things wrong with the modern athlete. I don't know how someone can complain about making millions of dollars a year and living in tax free Florida. Damn, I wish I had those problems.

I love that Howard was praising the Magic as being "willing to change". Hey Dwight why don't you work harder on your playing and maybe go out and recruit some players to the team? It's a two way street, you also need to do what you can to get the Magic a title. I don't think either Tony Romo or Dwight Howard will ever get a title. Dwight shut the hell up!

I'm also sick of hearing where Chris Paul is going to play, just get the trade done. Other than Karl Malone, the Jazz haven't had many drama queens over the years. Thank goodness. Of course when Jerry Sloan was the head coach, he didn't put up with that much. One great thing about Sloan was that he was always realistic with his players how lucky they were.

Now on to the pathetic Cowboys. On Sunday afternoon ESPN had their Streak for the Cash choices. I could have either gone with the Giants or Cowboys. My heart said to pick Dallas, but my head said to pick the Giants. I've just seen the Cowboys choke so many times. In fact I've come to expect it. With Daniel Snyder a owner in the NFL, Jerry Jones will never be the worst owner in the NFL. I loved the look of disgust on his face when Dallas's kicker, Dan Bailey, had his field goal attempt blocked at the end of Sunday night's game.

Jerry you don't have the right to be angry with anyone but yourself. You are over matched in being a general manager, you clearly have no idea what you are doing. Other than getting lucky with Jimmy Johnson, Bill Parcells is the only other good head coaching move you have made. Wade Phillips was an unmitigated disaster and Jason Garrett looks like he may be heading that way. Dave Campo, Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey there's a reason these men will never be in the NFL Hall of Fame.

I swear if I hear one more NFL expert say how much talent Dallas has, I'm going to go crazy. If Dallas has so much talent, why are they so damn mediocre? You can only blame the horrid general manager and bad coaching for so much. At the end of the day it comes down to the players on the field to make the plays. But increasingly those same players find new and creative ways to choke. The offense has been okay. After that terrible Wade Phillips defense last year and the weak looking Rob Ryan defense this year, what else can go wrong? The Cowboys just can't stop anyone in clutch time. No Cowboys lead is ever safe with their suspect defense. The Cowboys weakest defensive link seems to be their pass coverage. Everyone knows that the Cowboys cornerbacks suck, that's why Eli Manning kept on going at Terrance Newman. Newman was burned several times and Mike Jenkins missed most of the game due to injury. As for Dallas's defense it's been a systemic failure.

Obviously you can't blame Tony Romo for this loss, he played a great game. Other than being spun down in his own end zone in the first quarter for a safety, again he had a great game. Although that safety seemed to hang over the Cowboys the whole night. Romo completed 21 of 31 passes for 321 yards. He also passed for 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions and had a quarterback rating of 141.3. I don't think I've ever seen a quarterback rating that high. Some people are giving Romo crap for missing Miles Austin on a late game pass. Although I'm not a big Romo fan we need to give him a pass on that play.

Two things I would say about Romo, I still hope that he's not on the Cowboys next season. Yes he had a great game, but he's just not a winner. It's obvious after 9 years with the Cowboys he's not going to step up and win the big game. And I wouldn't be surprised to find the Cowboys to find a way to lose to the already given up on the season Tampa Bay this weekend. Also it's time to stop wearing your hat backwards, you aren't 15 anymore Tony.

Ultimately though what needs to be done is for Jones to fire himself. He needs to get one person to come in and be in charge of everything. Then Jones needs to stay the hell out of the way. What can Jones do? Well for one it's time to bring Sean Payton back home. Payton's family has already moved to Dallas. It's time for Payton to join his family and be the next head coach/GM of the Dallas Cowboys. It's time for Dallas to return to NFL prominence. I'm sick of these last 15 years of mediocrity when Dallas has only won one playoff game.

Dallas obviously this season's team hasn't got it. It's time to begin getting ready for next season. The Cowboys desperately need to go to free agency and the draft and get some quality cornerbacks. It would be nice if their wide receivers could be a little more durable too.

Another season, another meltdown. How many years Jerry is this going to go on before you realize you are the problem?

themusicaddict

"Welcome To The Jungle, You're Going To Die"

2011-12-13T08:51:00.004-07:00

Hello,

One of the true pleasures of life is live music, especially when it's a great band:

Overall I'm looking forward to tonight's Guns N' Roses concert in Salt Lake, although I do have a little trepidation. I'm not real excited about the 9:00pm start, that GN'R won't take the stage until 11:00ish and then that the concert won't end until 2:00amish. I know that's not very rock and roll of me, but I am 44 and I just don't bounce the way I use to.

Although listening to "Nightrain" and "Mr. Brownstone" driving to work I remembered the potential greatness of live rock music. Now will Axl and friends deliver on that tonight?

Also I have concerns how Axl's voice is at age 49, a lot of the live videos from this tour that I've seen don't inspire a lot of confidence. Also "Madagascar" in the encore? That makes no sense to me. That's not even one of GN'R 30 best songs. The last place they played was in Colorado which is next door to Utah, so Axl's voice should have had enough rest. So while I do have concerns I'm cautiously optimistic about tonight's concert.

I would love for GN'R to start their concert like they did in Colorado. They started off with the title track of "Chinese Democracy" and then followed up that with three classics from "Appetite For Destruction". (Of course nearly every song from "Destruction" is a classic.) Can it get much better than "Welcome to the Jungle", "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone" back to back to back?

They then played a couple of "Chinese Democracy" best tracks, a long time GN'R staple "Estranged" and then go into the amazing "Rocket Queen". Rose then turned the singing over to Tommy Stinson on "Sonic Reducer"- a song that Pearl Jam also likes to perform live in concert. They followed that with the butt kicking "Better", then a solo that led into one of the best covers of all-time. That's GN'R's take on the classic Wings tune "Live and Let Die".

I wouldn't complain much about a stretch of songs like that as long as the solos were kept short and there wasn't a lot of talking. Many modern rock bands (um, Nickelback) don't know how to build momentum and produce an amazing concert. I would expect that Guns N' Roses knows how to kick ass live after all these years.

Below is what I'm really concerned about in a worse case scenario situation. The sound is very loud, drowning out Axl Rose singing. I know this was probably filmed on a cell phone, but still....

I'm hoping that my a full review will be coming tomorrow.

The following is allegedly a concert review, but it really isn't. It's a Jon Dekel's slam fest on Axl Rose. What I'm worried about is I may be agreeing with the National Post's Dekel following tonight's concert. Dekel wrote this:

"In rock, few things are as certain as the uncertainty of Guns N’ Roses. However, as lead singer and only remaining original member Axl Rose ventures further and further away from the comfort zone of his own cranium (a magical place where spending 15 years and more than $10-million on an album is an acceptable form of commercial artistic expression), certain realizations and patterns come to light which may have the rock’s most fickle front man questioning his role in modern rock.

Now in ostensibly the tenth year of touring behind his band’s sixth studio album,Chinese Democracy, Rose is pushing 50. And, though his voice is still impressive as ever and he can still bust a swagger every once in a while, it’s hard to take the man seriously. Not that it’s ever been easy to take him seriously, but, until now, the man who named himself after an anagram for oral sex didn’t seem to give a crap what you thought because his legion of fans and millions-upon-millions in sales made him critically and artistically unassailable.

But, as Monday night’s nearly half empty show at Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum attested, Rose’s days of getting away with thinly-veiled racist remarks, chauvinistic actions and dolphin-themed videos are far behind him.

Never mind that he’s taken his obsession with the month of November to its logical, endless-Movember conclusion, if Guns had bailed on their show there would hardly have a furrowed brow, never mind a full blown riot (as happened in Vancouver at the start of the tour in 2002).

Could it be that, after ten years and virtually no original output (Chinese Democracybeing more-or-less widely available online by the early part of last decade), the public at large is simply fed up with Axl? Is it time for the man that once incited so much curiosity that Spin magazine devoted a whole cover story to an oral history of what the hell he’d been upto, to finally hang up his gloves or resign himself to the Mötley Crüe-esque dredges of endless touring while being more-or-less artistically impotent?

Perhaps I’m being overly harsh (me: ya think?), because Axl still shows potential. He can hit the highs of Welcome To The Jungle’s declarative breakdown; he can shatter eardrums with the thunder of set closer Night Train and he can still captivate and exhilarate like the best Michael Bay explosion-fest. But backed by a slew of capable yet ultimately unimaginative Slash fill-ins (seriously, three dudes to rock the epic November Rainsolo?) and a video show that was equal parts creepy (models posing during Rocket Queen), cheesy (Winamp visualizations) and just plain sad (the vignettes of depressed women that accompanied several of the Chinese Democracy cuts), the three-hour long greatest hits/covers set felt, at times, more like a Guns-themed Rock of Ages than the most dangerous band in rock ‘n’ roll.

The saddest part of all is that the answer is so plain to see. Between rehab, journalism and, er, playing with Fergie, it’s not like the other members of golden era Guns N’ Roses are too busy or too rich to reunite — It’s simply Axl being Axl that’s holding this back.

So here’s hoping that, with half-empty stadiums and slower returns , Rose realizes what we all knew all along: Guns N’ Roses is not Guns N’ Roses unless the men who recorded Appetite for Destruction are standing onstage together. Now more than ever, with the weight of his own impending irrelevance nipping at Rose’s half-century old feet, this can happen. Maybe he just needs a little push:

Make no mistake, the next sentence is meant to antagonize you, Mr. Rose:

It’s time to stop playing dress up, rebuild your integrity, regain your bloody anarchy and get in the ring! For your sake as much as ours."

This is the most recent review for Guns N' Roses that I've been able to find. This is the Cleveland Leader's Eugene McCormick's review of the Youngstown, Ohio show on December 7th. If tonight's concert is as good as the concert McCormick reviewed, all the crap that goes with Axl Rose will be worth it. I'm glad McCormick says Axl's voice is as strong as ever. This review gives me a lot more hope about tonight's show. McCormick wrote, I've fixed some of the spelling.

"To put this concert review into some perspective, I will give you a little background about myself. I think I have been blessed with seeing some of the best tours that rock n roll has ever seen.

In the summer of 1988, when I was just starting middle school, I saw Elton John for the first of 3 times. At 13, in 1990, I saw Paul McCartney's excellent show when he played Municipal Stadium and two more times when he played arenas stateside in the 2000s. I saw Guns N Roses for the first time on the second last school day of middle school and was the envy of all the burnouts who were shocked that a straight laced kid such as myself was allowed to see what was then dubbed as "The Most Dangerous Band on the Planet". I've seen legends such as Neil Young and Bob Dylan multiple times and have taken in shows by Oasis' Gallagher brothers at a rate that may have surpassed twenty times. I've seen shows by The Who, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and U2. I was privileged to see the inaugural Rock N Roll Hall of Fame show on the shores of Lake Erie that brought about numerous legendary acts that the genre spawned. I say this to notify you straight-off that I know a thing or two about a great rock concert, and what I witnessed at the Covelli Center on Wednesday night that turned into Thursday morning topped them all. Axl Rose and his hired guns delivered a performance of epic proportions.

People love to bask in nostalgia and miss Axl's top wearing hat partner but, truth be told, I've seen all three legs of the Chinese Democracy Tour (which started in 2002 even though the album didn't get officially released till 2008) and each show surpassed that of the Use Your Illusion Tour that hit the Richfield Coliseum in 1991. While Axl didn't have his childhood buddy playing rhythm guitar, a drunk on bass, a heroin junkie on drums (who was axed by the time I saw them), and the famous guitar virtuoso, things seemed more refined in the 2000s-era GNR show in a good way. The Chinese Democracy bands from 2002-2008, made up of seemingly anyone who Axl wanted to play with at the time who was a highly skilled musician, never was sloppy and was well rehearsed (maybe to a fault) and didn't play at a decibel level that made your ears ring for days on end. What was disappointing was the element of surprise that the shows brought and their heavy leaning on GNR's debut album Appetite for Destruction when they had many more songs at their disposal that would have added a better mix to an hour and forty five minute gig. What seemed to unnerve many concert goers during these gigs was the fact that Rose would saunter on stage at just about any time he pleased and deliver a stellar gig, like in the golden era of GNR, but their lives had changed with family and work obligations and they didn't enjoy getting home after the bars had already closed down for the night.

The original GNR shows seemed to have a club feel in an arena setting and, while at times electrifying, seemed to be out of place in the surroundings. When the Illusion shows moved to stadiums, which I unfortunately missed, it probably opened things up a bit but by that time Izzy Stradlin had left the band which was a devastating blow as he was a key songwriting partner, backing vocalist, and decades long friend to enigmatic Rose. Key members of the band remained and they played many legendary shows, but after 1994 the fire was gone and Axl went his separate ways with the rest of the old crew.

With all that being said, let's take our to attention to proceedings at Youngstown's Covelli Center. Axl is still a late arriver to his party but seems to make his regular appearance at about 11 pm nowadays. Every party needs something to celebrate and what is better than being inducted to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame earlier in the day on his first try. Rose was clearly in a good mood and the crowd was truly electric in the modern arena that was at near capacity. The band, some of which has played with Axl for a decade now, is tight as ever and doesn't play as close to the vest as they had in the past. Couple that with a setlist that has added in stellar songs from the Illusion era, including Civil War which had been absent for 18 years, along with the songs you expect from Appetite and a great selection of covers that show the wide ranging influence on Rose and any moderate GNR fan would be more than pleased witness the proceedings. Also included in the set are sublime choices from the highly underrated Chinese Democracy which would could have been called Use Your Illusion III as it is in the same vein as those two classics that spawned hits such as November Rain, Don't Cry, You Could Be Mine, and the McCartney cover Live and Let Die which all made their way on the setlist that lasted 3 hours with some guitar solos thrown in so the crowd could catch its breath after being barraged with hit after hit in the Axl Rose canon. This time around it seems that the band is playing at a little louder level than in the past which was welcoming as added something extra to the show but is not nearly as loud as the 1991 version which was over the top.

For a man nearing 50, the Indiana native hasn't lost a step. Rose still zooms across the stage at a roaring pace throughout shows like he did in his 20's and still has the vocal prowess of an Opera singer. It is noteworthy to point out that the tour manager seemed to know how to plan these gigs as the Youngstown gig, which is a short trip from Cleveland, was the same day the GNR induction announcement and I highly doubt that was a coincidence. The band followed it up with a trip to Indianapolis yesterday which is an hour drive from his hometown of Layfette. Axl acknowledged being being anointed Rock royalty by concluding the night by saying "Thank you to the Rock Hall and our fans" and later tweeted a nearly identical message to his legion of fans on the world wide web.

Seeing McCartney at age 48 and Rose at age 49 really helped me put things in perspective as I compared the two performances in my head. The former Beatle put on a show that I will never forget, and is still in my top 3 all-time, but even with all those classic songs that spawned stadium sing-alongs the energy at the 3 hour Guns N Roses show was more explosive. That is why Axl Rose is a first ballot member of the Rock Hall.

It will be interesting to see if he shows up to Cleveland's Public Hall to accept his award with the bandmates that he has been estranged from for so long but as the night concluded with Frank Sinatra's My Way nobody knows what is up his sleeve. Maybe if they invite the cast from America's favorite serial killer Dexter, who's theme song he came out to with roaring applause, perhaps Rose can be coaxed to reunite with the original Guns and make it the happy ending that many music fans are dying to see. If he keeps putting on shows like this I really don't care who it is with as it was a truly sensational performance that shows that Axl is still performing at the highest levels of rock n roll royalty.

Setlist
Dexter Intro
Chinese Democracy
Welcome To The Jungle
It's So Easy
Mr. Brownstone
Sorry
Shackler's Revenge
Estranged
Rocket Queen
Richard Fortus Guitar Solo
(James Bond Theme)
Live and Let Die
(Paul McCartney & Wings cover)
This I Love
Civil War
Sonic Reducer
(Dead Boys cover) (Tommy Stinson on lead vocals, with Band Introductions)
Dizzy Reed Piano Solo
(Baba O'Riley)
Street Of Dreams
You Could Be Mine
DJ Ashba Guitar Solo
(Ballad Of Death)
Sweet Child O' Mine
Instrumental Jam
(The Lemon Song/Another Brick … more)
Axl Rose Piano Solo
(Gran Torino/Goodbye Yellow … more)
November Rain
Bumblefoot Guitar Solo
(Pink Panther Theme)
Don't Cry
Whole Lotta Rosie
(AC/DC cover)
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
(Bob Dylan cover)
Nightrain
Encore:
Instrumental Jam
Madagascar
Better
Instrumental Jam
Patience
Instrumental Jam
Paradise City
My Way
(Frank Sinatra song)

themusicaddict

Guns N' Roses, LA Sports Craziness, Great Christmas Songs

2011-12-09T13:09:00.004-07:00

Hello,

Yesterday was a crazy day for LA sports. The 31 year old Albert Pujols agreed to a 10 year, $254 million deal with the Angels. While this is clearly a good deal for Mr. Pujols, is this a good deal for the Angels? Granted Albert Pujols is probably the best everyday player in MLB right now. However I don't think he's worth $25.4 million a year. I predict the Angels will enjoy this deal for a few years but eventually will regret it.

The other big LA sports story was the trade of Chris Paul to the Lakers, only for the trade to be later stopped by the NBA. I don't think this is the last we'll hear of this. Although Chris Paul if you follow through your threat of suing the NBA, I think that's a stupid move. It would be another confirmation that professional athletes are some of the greediest and most spoiled people in the world.

Meanwhile due to Frank McCourt's ownership, the Dodgers hands are tied in adding players to their team. Thankfully they were able to resign Matt Kemp, which was a must, but for some reason they can't add new players until a new ownership group is in place. McCourt's ownership is similar to a divorce. Just when you think it's done, it comes back to haunt you. Hopefully once a new owner is in place there will still be some key players that LA can add to it's team. Then hopefully Don Mattingly can guide the Dodgers to making a playoff run.

With there being some attention to the Tony Romo-Eli Manning matchup Sunday night, it makes me realize how hard it is to be a quality quarterback in the NFL. There are several great linebackers, tight ends, offensive linemen, defensive linemen and wide receivers in the NFL. Why are there so few great quarterbacks. You only need two hands to count off all the great quarterbacks in the NFL. One of those great quarterbacks played last night. The Steelers Ben Roethlisberger seems to be one of the few great quarterbacks. He really played a gutty game last night. He's head and shoulders above the likes of Romo or Manning.

The more I think about going to the Guns N' Roses concert Tuesday night, the more I think it might suck. Looking at the set lists it seems there's a lot of dead spots in the set list. There's way too many solos/"instrumental jams". Also there are too many songs from "Chinese Democracy". While "Sorry" is a decent song, certainly much better than that momentum killer "Madagascar", it seems like it could really grind the concert to a stop.

If Axl really has to play several songs from "Chinese Democracy" why can't he play "I.R.S."?

Or why can't they play the "Appetite For Destruction" classic "My Michelle"? Axl actually sounds pretty good here on this performance from a couple of years ago and the mix is good.

Here are a couple of good Christmas songs. It seems this song has been around for a long time, but it's new to me. I hadn't heard it until I downloaded the MP3 from iTunes. I'm not sure why this isn't a Christmas classic. This is Joe Nichols take on "Old Toy Trains":

Joe Nichols sings one of my favorite country songs, this is "Brokenheartsville":

I love this Joe Nichols song too:

Sorry, now back to Christmas songs. This is an oldie but a goody with a rockin' twist. It's Bayside's "Angels We Have Heard On High". If you like this version you can get it free at amazon.com's 25 Days of Free available in their MP3 store.

I don't watch "The Sing-Off", but I stumbled across this the other day on TV. I quite like Urban Method's take on "You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch".

themusicaddict

Pink Floyd, More Great Songs

2011-12-08T11:49:00.006-07:00

Hello,

Dear ESPN where was the lovely Hannah Storm this morning? My normal morning exercise just wasn't the same without her. Then to compound it there was two dudes that were delivering the news. Don't worry I'll get over it.

This morning I read about Pink Floyd in the October 10th, 2011 Rolling Stone. The article was about the tension that was going on in the band during the making of "Dark Side of the Moon". It was pretty interesting, in fact I think a book about them would be pretty interesting. (Put that on my list of books that I will probably never get to.) Anyway after I read that article I went to Spotify to check out some of their music. Too bad that Spotify has so little Pink Floyd available. Spotify doesn't have the full CDs for "Dark Side of the Moon", "The Wall" or "The Division Bell". I already know the first two CD's are classics but I wanted to listen to "The Division Bell". I wanted to listen to their music and see what effect Roger Waters leaving had.

Fortunately I have a lot of Pink Floyd on iTunes, so I've been listening to that to get my Pink Floyd fix. I enjoyed both "Pulse" and "The Wall" this morning. Sometimes I forget how much great music they have.

I love Comcast On Demand, I especially love their free quality movies. Last night I watched the Robert Downey and Jamie Foxx movie "The Soloist" for free. It's a pretty good movie. I've never been a big fan of Jamie Foxx but he played the schizophrenic Nathaniel Ayers very well. I would definitely suggest it's a movie you should watch. The homeless situation it depicts is extremely sad. At the end of the movie it was quoted that 90,000 people are homeless in the greater LA area. In a city that size I'm skeptical the number of homeless is that small.

Okay now on to some great songs:

I love Tift Merritt's "Mixtape". Everytime it plays on my iPod I think to myself what a great song.

Here's the lyrics:

You, how did you get so wise?
I take the advice I find in your eyes.
Me, I’ve been waiting outside
Most of my life,
Oh like a rare b-side.

I’m just making you mixtapes with homemade covers.
Analog to show we’re lovers,
And here under the jacket folds inside,
I’ve taped my heart for you to find.

To find the perfect way,
Which album to say,
I la la love you.
With this plastic cassette,
It’s not finished yet,
It’s gonna tell you slowly.

I’m just making you mixtapes with homemade covers.
Strings and drawings show we’re lovers,
When you’re driving around in the summertime,
To hear again, just press rewind.

Rewind, the world comes to an end,
Turns over again,
Another 1000 times.
But me, I’ll be the same.
No, I never change,
Oh, like a rare B-side.

I’ll be making you mixtapes with homemade covers.
Analog to show we’re lovers,
So much rock and roll love in a plastic case,
Play it loudly, see my face.
I’m just making you mixtapes with homemade covers,
Mazzy Star, Donovan’s Colors,
Just an audio love letter painted blue,
I spent all day making for you.

In the lyrics she sings about Mazzy Star and Donovan. I've stumbled across both of those artists related to other things over the last couple of days. Along with Guns N' Roses and the Beastie Boys, Donovan was also elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This is probably Donovan's most famous song:

Then Mazzy Star's most famous song is available at iTunes for .69c for a limited time. I haven't added it to my iTunes yet, but I'm thinking about it. "Fade Into You" is a very cool song:

I don't like to get very personal in this blog. However I wanted to mention one thing. After a year plus of bullshit I was finally able to dump a house. I'd bought it several years ago when I was still married. One thing lead to another and I got kicked out. We couldn't make the payments any more. About a year ago I had a realtor start the process of selling it as a short sale. Anyway that's an extremely annoying task. Yesterday I finally was able to dump the house that I haven't even lived in for 18 months.

That got me to thinking about the last couple of turbulent years of my life. Driving home the below song came on as an intro on ESPN 700. And I thought it was a song that fit with the last couple of years of my life. Bankruptcy, divorce, short sale on my house and now I live with my parents. Sometimes I do feel like I'm running on empty. But I'm not going to complain as things could be a lot worse. I'm no longer in a bad relationship, don't have a ton of debt hanging over my head. I also have a great family and a great job.

Here are some other great songs. Five days from today Guns N' Roses will be in concert in Salt Lake City. I'm looking forward to it, but on the other hand I'm not getting my hopes built up. One reason why is due to all the filler that's built into the concert. There are too many "instrumental jams" and some less than great songs being played. In GN'R's encore, they usually play"Madagascar". It's not a very good song, it doesn't really go anywhere. This video is from two weeks ago. Following who knows how long of an encore and then they play this song? It seems like any momentum built up would be killed by their encore and this blah song:

When Wings did this song it was pretty great, however Guns N' Roses took it to another level. This is "Live and Let Die" from 3 weeks ago:

Just a couple of more songs. One of the most under appreciated bands of the 80s was INXS. Do you realize how many good songs they had? Unfortunately they also had a lot of bad luck and a suicidal lead singer. I still remember when "Kick" was the hottest CD in America. It is a great CD. Anyway here's "New Sensation":

But my favorite INXS song is "Never Tear Us Apart":

To no one's surprise INXS with a new lead singer never took off. Do you remember the reality show in which they tried to find a new lead singer? If you did you are one the few. If you actually watched it you are one of the fewer.

That's why I love Spotify if I get a musical itch Spotify can usually scratch it. It seems Spotify has pretty much all of INXS' music. I know that Pink Floyd has been one of the last digital music holdouts, but still I thought Spotify would have more of their music available.

Finally this is one of the most danceable songs ever, I love this song:

themusicaddict

ESPN Asked This Morning: Romo or Eli? Is That a Joke? BYU, U. of U. and NBA Basketball (Yes in that order.)

2011-12-08T09:04:00.006-07:00

Hello,

My answer to ESPN's question of Romo or Eli? Neither! How bad are the quarterbacks in the NFL if these two playing against each other is considered a marquee matchup? Of course both the Cowboys and Giants are both mediocre teams. When Tony Romo or Eli Manning is your quarterback why does Archie Manning complain about possibly having both Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck on one team? What better person for Luck to learn from? Barring a devastating injury the Colts would have their quarterback position locked down for the next 10-15 years. I do find it funny that only a day later Archie Manning is saying his son and Luck can coexist.

Speaking of deficient NFL quarterbacks, I can't wait until the Tim Tebow train crashes. Yes, I know the Broncos have won 5 games with him as starting quarterback. How much longer is that going to last? It looks like the Broncos are going to qualify for the playoffs. But does Denver really want to go to battle in the playoffs with Tebow as their quarterback? They might say they do, but I wouldn't believe them. Denver could continue their hot streak as 3 of their final 4 games are at home. On Sunday they play the struggling Bears, who will be without both Jay Cutler and Matt Forte. Then they'll host the now 9-3 New England Patriots. If Denver beats Chicago, I predict that the Patriots will derail them. Then on Christmas Eve they play the Bills in frigid Buffalo. The Bills won't have anything to play for at that point. Lastly on New Year's Day the Broncos close out their season facing the Chiefs and possibly ex-quarterback Kyle Orton.

Frighteningly the Broncos could win 3 of their final 4 games and win the AFC West. If they make the playoffs they probably would have to play on wildcard weekend. They may even host that game, but again do you really want to go to battle with Tebow as your starting quarterback? Especially if they are playing a team that's playing for something. Honestly their schedule has fallen just right for them to win 5 consecutive games. If Denver somehow beats New England then I'd be more of a believer. But I'd still be more skeptical than anything. The Tebow train could be a one season flash in the pan, but I predict he'll be out of the NFL in less than 3 years.

One more NFL note: It will be interesting to see how San Francisco does against the Arizona Cardinals this weekend. Remember the Dallas Cowboys went into Arizona last week and scored all of 13 points against an anemic Cardinals defense. Jason Garrett made some boneheaded coaching decisions and generally the Cowboys acted like they were uninterested in winning.

However San Francisco is several notches above the Cowboys in being a good team. I expect the 49ers to go in and destroy the Cardinals. I still can't figure out how the Cowboys beat the 49ers in San Fran.

College basketball: Now on to two teams heading in very different directions, BYU and Utah. I watched a bit of BYU's trouncing of Weber State last night 94-66. I know that probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but many people considered Weber State the best team in Utah this season. That's saying something as Utah is a state that takes it's college basketball seriously. But BYU disabused many people of that notion in their easy victory. BYU looked very good and I think they could have a better team than last year's Jimmer Fredette led team. The Cougars are much more rounded and balanced this season. They will be adding another stud to their lineup in just a few days too.

The team going in the opposite direction is the Utah Utes. Wow they've looked awful this year. I know they are in a rebuilding phase, but it looks like this will be a more brutal season than the rebuilding tag hints at. Their season probably won't be as ugly as BYU's 1996-1997 1-25 season. But it could be, I see two winnable games remaining on their schedule. On December 16th they play the 2-6 Idaho State Bengals and on December 19th they play 3-6 Portland. Many people thought that Utah could win their home game last night against Cal State Fullerton. Final score USF 81-Utah 50.

I realize it's only coach Larry Krystkowiak's first season. But in this win now culture, how likely is it that he would hold on to his job following a two or three win season? He hasn't had a lot of success and built up a lot of good will like Kyle Whittingham has. It doesn't help Krystkowiak that he followed Jim Boylen, who had an alarming amount of players transfer. That continued this last off season and left the Utes with a pretty bare shelf. Also when your best player goes by the name Jiggy, how good could you be? Especially when Jiggy Watkins has now been suspended indefinitely.

Well Ute fans at least you have the exciting Sun Bowl game coming up. Plus the Utes always have that spectacular women's gymnastics team.

With the NBA lockout ending and the NBA really starting to heat up, I've come to an astounding realization. I haven't missed the NBA a bit and at this point I don't know how much I'll be following it. I'm a bit surprised because I totally got into the NBA during their amazing playoffs last year. It doesn't help with all the greed that's associated with the NBA. It seems the NBA was going to continue their lockout to force the players to accept a more owner friendly CBA. That is until the owners would lose one of their precious golden gooses, the Christmas Day games. Then all of a sudden the owners were more interested in agreeing on a new CBA. Now the greedy buggers have scheduled 5 Christmas Day games.

themusicaddict

Pearl Harbor Attack 70th Anniversary, GN'R in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

2011-12-07T09:54:00.007-07:00

Hello,

70 years ago today the Japanese launched a surprise attack on America by bombing Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it a "date that will live in infamy". I don't know if that attack was more devastating than the 9/11 attacks, but both are very similar. Both events defined two different generations. Both led to a lot of casualties, deaths and damage. Both also led to wars, with the Pearl Harbor attacks drawing America into World War 2. According to wikipedia.com 2,386 people died in the Pearl Harbor attacks. "18 ships were sunk or run aground, including 5 battleships." (Thanks to wikipedia.com.) As always remember to hug a veteran!

On Saturday night I was watching the BYU-Hawaii game. During the game they showed some of the memorials still reminding us of this tragic day. It was a nice contrast. Watching football, one of the best but most frivolous things of living in America. But contrasting that with all the people that have died in wars so we could enjoy that very frivolous activity.

Speaking of frivolous activity, this is my blog. I realize most everyday how lucky I am that I live in the greatest nation in the world and that I enjoy the kind of life I live. Thanks Veterans!

I learned this morning that Guns N' Roses has been elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I'll be seeing them in concert in 6 days. They might be the first band that I've seen live that's a current Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member. Also congratulations to the Beastie Boys on being elected to the Hall of Fame. I'm not quite sure if I agree with the Red Hot Chili Peppers also going into the Hall of Fame. They do have some good songs, but nowhere as many as GN'R or the Beasties.

Here's a little GN'R music to wake you up this morning:

I love how funky they made the start of this song. As Axl says in his way you can dance to this. The following video has been censored, which I appreciate. I can live without hearing the f bomb ever again.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony will be on April 14th, 2012. (Happy Birthday Mom!) This announcement has already started rumors about whether the original lineup will reunite for that night and possibly longer. From all their contention and anger over the years I just don't see that happening. Who knows but I'm sure there will be plenty of drama that night. That actually may be an induction ceremony I'd want to watch.

Damn you iTunes! Yesterday I went to iTunes as, I do every Tuesday, and downloaded some of the free songs they have available every week. While there I noticed they are selling songs for 69c, they have about 300 or 400 songs available at that price for a limited time. I made the mistake of looking through the songs they have available. They have several songs that I don't have in my iTunes. And I had a $10.00 iTunes credit. Guess what I did yesterday morning? Yes, I used up my iTunes gift card. If you are math challenged you can buy 14 .69c songs with $10.00. Here's a selection of some of those songs:

I wrote about this song and how much I liked it just a couple of weeks ago. For only .69c I had to add it to my iTunes. I can't get enough of the "Super Bon Bon". Do I even want to know what that is?

"Headstrong" by Trapt:

Cypress Hill's "Insane In The Brain":

Candlebox "You". Sorry it doesn't seem "Far Behind" is available for .69c.

Jane's Addiction's "Jane Says":

Sorry a video featuring Haddaway singing his one hit has the embedding disabled by request? I'm not sure why because who's thought of this song in the last 10 years? I'm glad the greedy record company is denying me and others from advertising this song for them. Later I found a better version of this song where the embedding isn't disabled by request. But I kept this rant on my blog, because there's no logic in disabling a video's embedding.

Also Haddaway I completely agree just what is love? I'd like to know the answer to that question as well.

Rob Zombie's "More Human Than Human":

Jewel wants to know "Who Will Save Your Soul?":

Okay this is the final song that I'm featuring of the songs I added to iTunes yesterday. It's hard to believe a band that released such an amazing song for their first song went on to make so many crappy songs.

Season 1 finalist of "The Voice" and Utah native Dia Frampton released a CD yesterday. It's entitled "Red". The song that's getting the most exposure is this song "The Broken Ones":

I've been listening to Dia Frampton on Spotify and I quite like her. "Red" is a good CD and a lot of good songs are on that CD. I didn't call "Red" her debut CD, she also released a couple of CDs with Meg Frampton. Those CDs are titled "Something Real" and "Here, Here and Here". I highly suggest you check out all those CDs, which you can listen to free right now on Spotify. There are a lot of good songs on the three CDs and I can see Frampton's growth on "Red".

To give you a little flavor of Meg and Dia Frampton's earlier music, here are a couple of songs. This is "Black Wedding":

This is "Bored of Your Love":

themusicaddict

Hannah Storm again, Jake Heaps transfers as Cougar Nation yawns, 1 week to GN'R

2011-12-06T14:23:00.010-07:00

Hello,

The lovely woman on the left is Hannah Storm. Sometimes she does ESPN's morning Sportscenter. My question is how are the men working with her and watching her on TV suppose to concentrate on sports when she's on the TV?

Here's an example of a sports story and let's see how well you can concentrate with that lovely picture on the left. To no one's surprise and to hardly anyone of Cougar Nation's sadness, BYU QB Jake Heaps announced he'll be transferring to another school. In reading about this yesterday, the consensus of Cougar Nation seems to be yawn. (It isn't like Simon and Garfunkel's ode to Joe Dimaggio. See below. Cougar nation isn't turning their lonely eyes to Heaps.) He'd have been a junior next year and wasn't going to play over Riley Nelson. Unless in the probable likelihood that Nelson gets injured again. But James Lark can hold a clipboard just as well as Heaps. Sarcasm alert: But sitting on the bench is nowhere to be for a quarterback that's going to win Heisman's and national championships.

When Nelson's eligibility would have expired, Heaps would have had only one more year of eligibility. In all likelihood he would have been the starter. But that's assuming he'd beat out that year's quarterbacks. But no one will ever know as Heaps has decided to leave.

I wonder where he'll transfer to. I'm sure he had an idea before he made that decision. At least I hope he does. I'm not real worried that he'll come back and haunt BYU after he sits out next year. But I honestly don't think he'll find a place that will be as good a fit for him. I wonder what school will take him as many schools already have quarterbacks in the pipeline. In all likelihood it won't be with an already great school. He'll probably be starting over yet again. From many reports he hasn't shown a lot of maturity or fortitude. He's someone that would really have benefitted from going on a LDS mission and the maturity that comes with that. As he's married it's too late now.

I can't say I'll miss you Jake, but good luck. Jake is no longer with the football team. Heaps won't be practicing with the team or playing in BYU's Bowl game. I don't know if that's a good idea for him or for BYU. But the lasting image of Jake Heaps for me will be at the BYU-Utah game. On BYU's first offensive possession the center snapped the ball poorly to Heaps. Heaps wasn't able to catch the ball and then he feebly tried to pick up the ball, which he wasn't successful at. Then he tried again to pick up the ball and badly missed it this time. Did you like how he flopped over the ball, he acted like he was afraid that he was about to be hit. He did that instead of jumping on the ball, the Utes landed on the ball and scored a touchdown. If Heaps had landed on the ball it would have been a safety and only two points. And from there the Ute's completely dominated BYU. (It pains me to write that, but it's the truth.)

Here's what I'm talking about:

How did you do concentrating on my Jake Heaps news with the gorgeous Hannah Storm looking at you? It was hard, wasn't it?

This is Simon and Garfunkel's ode to Joe Dimaggio:

My excitement level is going up, and not because of Hannah Storm, but one week from today is the Guns N' Roses concert in Salt Lake City. I'm sort of having mixed emotions. On one hand if they play as good as they can, it should be a kick ass performance. But on the other hand I'm wondering which Axl Rose will show up that night. If it's the surly, spoiled Axl Rose this might not be a great show. We have great seats so I'm cautiously optimistic.

This is "Paradise City" from two weeks ago with two of Guns N' Roses guitarists doing a guitar intro. Then at the 1:34 is the beginning of "Paradise City":

He sounds good, but not great, in the above video. Unfortunately at about the 6:30 the song goes into about a 2.5 minute jam. That's two long instrumental jams in one song, that worries me more than a little bit. Another of my concerns is that the music drowns out Axl's vocals. This video seems to bear that out somewhat. If I can't understand the words it's just unpleasant screaming. I hope the vocals /music mix is closer to the "Live '87-'93" CD.

On this song from the November 19th, 2011 Hartford, Conn. concert they sound exactly like the original GN'R.

This link is for Evan Schlansky's review for "American Songwriter" of GN'R in Nashville: http://www.americansongwriter.com/2011/12/guns-n-roses-ride-the-night-train-in-nashville/

I agree with Schlansky, Axl needs to cut out a lot of fat in the show. I'd be fine with a 2.5 hour show with a lot of fat cut out. I think I can live just fine without 9 "instrumental jams". Dumping a couple of "Chinese Democracy" songs I don't think will hurt anyone's feelings either. I also hope "Nightrain" sounds a lot better than on this night in Chicago.

The sound is a lot better two nights later, although the mix is still not great:

Let's see how Axl's voice sounded just two nights ago. This is the boys on "Sweet Child O' Mine":

Singing "Civil War" at the same concert. Axl's voice sounds a lot better on the more mellow songs. I also like that this song is played just as it is on the CD. A great song like this will only be watered down with unnecessary solos.

The setlist from the same December 4th, 2011 Nashville concert.

Chinese Democracy
Welcome To The Jungle
It's So Easy
Mr. Brownstone
Sorry
Shackler's Revenge
Estranged
Rocket Queen
Richard Fortus Guitar Solo
(James Bond Theme)
Live and Let Die
(Paul McCartney & Wings cover)
This I Love
Sonic Reducer
(Dead Boys cover) (Tommy Stinson on lead vocals, with Band Introductions)
Civil War
(First time played live since 1993)
Dizzy Reed Piano Solo
(Baba O' Riley)
Street Of Dreams
You Could Be Mine
DJ Ashba Guitar Solo
(Mi Amor)
Sweet Child O' Mine
Instrumental Jam
(Another Brick in the Wall Pt. II)
Axl Rose Piano Solo
(Goodbye Yellow Brick Road/Someone Saved My Life Tonight)
November Rain
Bumblefoot Guitar Solo
(Pink Panther Theme)
Don't Cry
Whole Lotta Rosie
(AC/DC cover)
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
(Bob Dylan cover)
Nightrain
Encore:
Instrumental Jam
Madagascar
Better
Riff Raff
(AC/DC cover)
Instrumental Jam
Patience
Instrumental Jam
Paradise City

themusicaddict

The Dallas Cowboys are pathetic, TCU got screwed. Just say hell no to the BCS!

2011-12-05T11:14:00.005-07:00

Hello,

Dallas losing to Arizona really isn't a surprise to me. The Cowboys are a mediocre team that doesn't have a killer instinct. (How should a team preparing for the playoffs play? The way San Francisco did, they thrashed St. Louis 26-0. The 49ers are now 10-2, see what can happen when a team has a good coach?) Honestly Dallas should have beat up Arizona pretty good, Arizona is only now 5-7. They have the opposite record of Dallas. Jason Garrett's use of timeouts at the end of the game was terrible. He had two time outs and he didn't use one when Bryant caught the ball for a first down with 26 seconds left? Instead he had Tony Romo spike the ball with 7 seconds left? Why didn't he use one of those time outs with 26 seconds left and try to get closer than a 49 yard field goal attempt? Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey finally got the chance to kick a field goal and then Garrett decided to use a time out? Of course Bailey made that field goal. Because of Garrett's terrible time out usage the field goal didn't count. Then when Bailey kicked the ball again, this time he missed. The game went to overtime where the Cowboys lost.

As I was afraid of Jason Garrett is overmatched, he doesn't have what it takes to be a head coach. I'm not even sure he has what is needed to be an offensive coordinator. I expect about this time next year people will be calling for Garrett's head. Again the Cowboys have a ton of talent but they don't have the smartest people in the world running the team. These kind of losses and bad decisions go back to Jerry Jones. Jones still thinks he's a football genius. I'm guessing he hired Garrett as head coach because he put so much money into getting him as offensive coordinator. He was going to show how brilliant he was when Garrett became their head coach and the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. But so far the move has backfired and again we see emperor isn't wearing any clothes.

It's these kind of things that I can't even watch the Cowboys play any more.

These kind of things are going to continue to happen as long as Jones remains owner or at least is in charge. Yes, I know the Cowboys have won 3 Super Bowls under Jerry Jones, but those were a long time ago. I attribute those victories more to Jimmy Johnson than Jones. It's not a coincidence that Dallas hasn't fully recovered from Johnson quitting. That was one of the first instances of Jerry Jones ego getting in the way and it hurting the Cowboys.

Moving forward I see Dallas losing to the Giants on Sunday Night Football. The Giants have owned the Cowboys in the recent past and I don't see any reason why this year will be any different. After Dallas loses at home Sunday, they'll be tied with the Giants at 7-6. With only one team from the NFC East going to the playoffs, Dallas will be again watching the playoffs at home. Again the NFC East is frighteningly mediocre this season. All four NFC East teams lost this past week. It takes a mediocre division to do that. Hell the awful NFC West can't even do that.

After another terrible year, by Cowboys fans standards, Jones will stick with the status quo because he's such a "genius". And the Cowboys will have yet another mediocre season next year. There's a reason the Cowboys have only won 1 playoff game in the last 15 years.

Jerry it's time for you to fire yourself, of course it's been the time to do that for at least three years now.

Just when I think the BCS has run out of ways of screwing non-AQ teams, they find yet a new way. Although TCU is # 16 in the AP Poll, they remained at #18 in the BCS Rankings. Even after winning by more than 40 points the Horned Frogs didn't move up the BCS rankings. They met all the other requirements for a BCS Bowl invite but needed to get to #16 on the BCS rankings. So they got screwed again by the greedy BCS. Again the BCS sucks.

Here are some of the bowls that are of interest to me. Some of the bowl match ups are interesting, but a lot are ugly. I think the ugliest bowl game will be the Las Vegas Bowl. That will be the 11-1 and disrespected BSU team playing against a 6-6 Arizona St. team. The same team that choked and quit down the stretch and then fired their coach. They are nowhere in the same league as Boise St. BSU will do what it always does and destroy an overmatched team from a so called AQ league.

Then not only was TCU denied a BCS Bowl but then to add to that TCU has been relegated to the Poinsetia Bowl. For hell's sake they are playing a WAC team, a league that won't even be around in a couple of years. Look for TCU to take their BCS frustrations out on Karl Malone's alma mater. Other than if you are a sadist I would skip watching both those bowls.

Also how in the hell does a 6-7 UCLA team get a bowl bid? Are they going to "let" Rick Neuheisel coach that game as well, just like they "let" him coach the Pac 12 Championship Game?

Also the BCS makes sure of the best match ups, right? I mean who's with me and are clearing their schedule for the LSU-Auburn rematch on January 9th? Wait a second I think I have to cut out coupons that night. Dang I guess I won't be able to watch it then.

Sarcasm alert: I also can't wait until January 4th, 2011 for the Orange Bowl. How exciting will it be for these two 3 loss teams to battle it out? Awesome I can't wait to watch Clemson, who badly faded down the stretch and lost 3 of their last 5 games, to play. Oh yeah they are one of the elite teams in the nation! Then how about West Virginia? They also have 3 losses and losing to LSU is understandable. But losing by 26 points to 5-7 Syracuse? They also lost at home to the 7-5 Louisville Cardinals by 3 points. Oh thanks BCS for giving us this great match up. This game is also known as the BCS consolation bracket. I HATE THE BCS!

I promise I will write about something else tomorrow, the BCS annually pisses me off.

themusicaddict

The BS of the BCS, We Demand A Playoff Now!

2011-12-04T12:50:00.006-07:00

Hello,

Tonight one of the greediest and corrupt organizations in American sports will unveil who'll be invited to the 5 BCS games. And as usual tonight's unveiling will be head scratchingly stupid. I ask you as one college football fan to another, please don't watch tonight's BCS show. I won't ask you to skip their games. But please don't watch tonight's show. That is unless you want to see self congratulatory idiots show off their lack of logic about the BCS.

I don't think even the most ardent Oklahoma St. fan thinks they'll be playing in the BCS Championship Game. I'm not saying whether they deserve it or not, I'm saying I don't think it's going to happen. The BCS for some reason seems to want a rematch of Alabama-LSU. I don't know why as I don't even know if I would watch that game. I didn't watch their first matchup and I don't really want to see another 9-6 five field goal game. I mean defense is great, but it's the offensive battles that creates the excitement.

I do think LSU deserves to be in the BCS Championship game. They are 13-0 and have gone through the battering ram schedule of the SEC. But the team that will play against them in the National Championship Game, how do you differentiate between them and OSU? Well for one I don't think you do or can. Again this is why we need a playoff system.

The BCS criteria to play in a BCS Bowl game is the 6 champions of the 6 AQ conferences and 4 other teams. Obviously representing the SEC will be LSU, no argument here. Representing the Big 10, that will be Wisconsin. No argument here, other than they aren't real exciting to watch. It looks like they'll be playing the Pac 12 Champion Oregon. That game will be a good contrast between a high scoring offense and a tough defense. I'd much rather watch that game than a boring SEC rematch. Then representing the Big 12 will be the OSU Cowboys. They'll either be playing in the BCS Championship Game or another BCS Bowl.

So I agree with all four of those Champions deserving the BCS Bowl games. But here's when the wheels fall off the car. Who is the ACC champion, it's the 10-3 Clemson Tigers. How does a three loss team get a BCS bid? Because they are the champion of one of the so-called AQ leagues, the ACC. Like the Big East it's debatable whether they are worthy of an automatic qualifying team.

Let's break Clemson's schedule down a little. They won their first 8 games but then lost 3 of their last 5 games. That includes being destroyed by 7-5 NC State 37-13 and 10-2 South Carolina 34-13. They also lost to Georgia Tech by two touchdowns. How does a team that lost 3 of their last 5 games by two touchdowns or more and were outscored 122-112 in those 5 games deserve a BCS Bowl? The honest answer is they don't. Even if there was a 8 team playoff, I suggest they weren't worthy of that. And please don't tell me how good the ACC is, it isn't. They have such weaklings as 2-10 Maryland, 4-8 Boston College, 6-6 Wake Forest and 7-5 North Carolina State.

Again the less than inspiring strength of the ACC again highlights the inequity of the BCS. Of course when your criteria is human voting and computer analysis how close can you come to determining a true champion? Again there needs to be a college football playoff!

I'm not going to break down the questionable toughness of Big East teams. I've already mocked that pathetic football conference several times. This is the same conference that will be down to 5 teams in 2014 unless they add someone. TCU briefly joined before getting a chance to jump to a real conference and quickly left to the Big 12. BYU was asked to join the Big Least but thankfully said "no". Now the last I heard Boise State has also been approached, but so far haven't joined. They want a Western Division of the Big East so they won't have to travel as far. But again why join a dying league and how are they still worthy of their AQ status? They aren't but again that's yet another of the BCS inequities.

So how is the Big East Champ going to be picked? It's a three way tie and who ever finishes highest in the BCS rankings will get the BCS bid. So what teams are those. #23 West Virgina who finished 9-3. Unranked Cincinnati who also finished 9-3. Then lastly and least the 7-5 Louisville Cardinals. Again the BCS isn't about the best of the best, it's about being in the immoral BCS.

Since some teams get the benefit of the membership in the AQ leagues and thus get undeserved spots in the BCS, as you guessed someone is getting screwed. Who is that? Obviously it's not USC, they are on probation and shouldn't be considered. They shouldn't be considered in spite of being one of the best teams in the nation.

The following rankings are from today's AP poll. Where will #4 Stanford go? Only two teams from one league can get BCS bids so where does #7 Arkansas go? Is #12 Michigan going to get a BCS bid? I'd argue whether Michigan deserves a BCS bid, although they deserve one more than either Clemson or West Virginia.

Do you notice two teams that I haven't mentioned. Yes although #8 Boise State is 11-1 and their only loss is to the #16 Horned Frogs, they probably won't get an invite to the BCS. One of the best teams will be invited to a much lesser bowl and will roll a less than great team. Boise State is doing all they can to upgrade their conference affiliation, but for now are stuck in the woeful MWC. As they are in a non-AQ league that means they will get screwed.

However TCU should qualify for it's third straight BCS bowl. Now how does the #16 Horned Frogs get invited to the BCS whereas #8 Boise State doesn't? It's due to the fact that TCU is the MWC conference champ. That's the first requirement. They also have to move into the BCS Top 16. They should be able to do that as they are #16 in the AP Poll and the AP poll includes the probation punished Trojans. They also have to finish ahead of the Big East Champion. That last requirement is the easiest of them all.

TCU started out slowly only winning 3 of their first 5 games. They lost to the Robert Griffin fueled Baylor Bears 50-48. In a mystifying result they also lost to SMU 40-33 in overtime. After losing to SMU, TCU reeled off 7 straight victories. Those victories included defeating the now 9-3 and bowl bound BYU Cougars and beating at the time #5 BSU in Boise. I'm positive that Clemson isn't more deserving of a BCS bowl bid than TCU. Although both teams should be getting BCS bowl bids.

One of the criteria the NCAA selection committee uses for March Madness is how well a team plays in their last 10 games. Obviously you couldn't do that in college football, but maybe you can base a team on their final 7 games. But then again what do the people behind March Madness know? They only have the most exciting sporting event each year. Can you imagine how exciting a March Madness like playoff for college football would be? Reason 7 million and 4 to get rid of the BCS now!

Again all these questions would go away if we only had a 8 team or a 16 team playoff. We demand a playoff now!

themusicaddict

Some Off The Wall Songs (Although there's no Michael Jackson to be seen.)

2011-12-04T08:18:00.006-07:00

Hello,

Okay this video is very strange, but I love the song. I hope these were all actors. This is a random song I've added to iTunes over the years, this is Malachi's "Snowflake":

This is Los Super Elegantes "Sixteen":

Another great song with an international feel, this is Asa's "Jailer":

Remember that 5 minutes that Moby was hot and even briefly dated Natalie Portman, every geek's hottie fantasy. Since it was before the money saving Spotify, I actually bought some of his music and listened to it. I was never that impressed, but I do like this song. It's a great song for a peaceful Sunday morning. Moby's "Pale Horses":

A great classic from Paul Revere and the Raiders:

This is a song that always made me think of my wife until we got divorced. But a great song:

A song that reminds me of junior high school gym class for some reason. This is Chiliwack's "My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone):

themusicaddict

Sports: Who will be the first NFC East coach fired?, The Awesome Tracy Chapman

2011-12-02T10:29:00.008-07:00

Hello,

It has been officially confirmed that I'm old, Britney Spears turned 30 years old today.

Due to a power outage I wasn't able to watch any of the Philadelphia-Seattle game last night. When the power finally came back I laughed to myself that Seattle had beat Philadelphia 31-14. Now that's good stuff. Who would have thought that Seattle would have had a better record than Philadelphia at this point in the season? I didn't, that's for sure. The Seahawks are restoring a little luster to themselves and the NFC West with their recent resurgence.

How's that $20 million a year for Micheal Vick working out for you Philly. He can't play due to injury so they turn to Vince Young. Young is the same person who coined the Dream Team title for the Eagles before the season even started. Then to mock that ridiculous moniker even more he threw 4 interceptions last night. What a bust he's been for the Eagles.

With the Seagulls now at 4-8 is Andy Ried going to be the first NFC East coach fired? Is it going to be the Giants Tom Coughlin? Grantland.com had an excellent article yesterday about how the Giants have allegedly quit on Coughlin over the last several years. My mind is still boggled that a combination of Tom Coughlin/Eli Manning won a Super Bowl. Or is Mike Shanahan going to be the first NFC East coach fired? Although the Redskins have been dreadful for so long, I'm not sure how much you can blame the Redskins sucking on him. It looks like Jason Garrett is the only coach safe in the NFC East, but don't look too closely into the Cowboys smoke and mirrors 7-4 record. And as a long time Cowboys fan I can't get too excited about Garrett.

ESPN yesterday had an article about whether the Conference Championship games matter. My answer is "no". It's widely assumed that whether or not LSU wins the SEC Championship game, they will still play in the National Championship game. Come on and how will LSU not win this game by at least 30 points. In the National College Football game likely it will be Alabama-LSU. Oh yeah, I can hardly wait for another 9-6 yawn fest. I'll refrain from mocking the ACC or Conference USA Championship Games.

One championship game I won't refrain from mocking is the alleged Pac 12 Conference Championship Game. On one side we have the 6-6 UCLA Bruins. This is the same team who already have fired their coach, although he will be "allowed" to coach tonight's game. This same UCLA team who lost their last game by 50 points! was shut out! on their home field! They are playing a very good and explosive 10-2 Oregon team. Oregon has only lost to probably the best team in the nation, LSU, and a very fired up USC team. Try to keep this game within 40 points UCLA.

I wish my alma mater, the University of Utah, would have qualified for the Pac 12 Championship Game. The Utes offense has had several problems this year and desperately need a real quarterback. However their defense is stout. I don't think the Utes would have beat Oregon, but they sure would have given them a much better battle than UCLA will. I'm still disgusted the Utes lost to the terrible Buffaloes at home. Hang in there Coleman Peterson.

Also UCLA has been told that Boise St. coach Chris Peterson isn't interested in their head coach opening. Good idea Chris, why would he be interested in a demotion anyway?

Over at Grantland.com Andy Greenwald wrote an excellent article "How We'd Fix The Walking Dead". Greenwald has many great points and I agree with almost everything he's written. Here's the link:

http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/38373/how-wed-fix-the-walking-dead

Some explanation, I only recently got into "Lost" so I'm slowly working through it. I watched Season 3, Episodes 5 and 6 last night.

In Greenwald's article he makes six points:

1) "Eat Lori". I agree and while we are at it get rid of T-Dog and Glen. Why wasn't the former NFL player from the graphic novels instead of either one of those lightweights. "The Walking Dead" needs to be more like "Lost" and not be afraid to shed a major character every now and then. Through the early part of season 3 of "Lost" they've go rid of Shannon, Boone, Ana Lucia, Libby and in an episode I watched last night Mr. Eko. (Although just because a character dies on "Lost" that doesn't mean that we will never see them again.)

2) "Pick A Destiantion" In other words get the hell out of Dodge, or in this case Hershel's farm. The momentum of this show stopped as soon as they got to Hershel's farm. Of course having the first 7 episodes involving the missing Sophia was one of the great missteps in this show's history. If we don't care about the character we probably aren't going to care about what happens to her. Especially if it's stretched over 7 slow moving, boring episodes.

3) "Don't Get Lost". I disagree a bit on this point. "The Walking Dead" can't come up with enough original ideas so it needs to steal from "Lost". Although by the third season of "Lost" the show has lost some of it's charms, it still is far superior to "The Walking Dead". (If "The Walking Dead" continues it's current course I can only guess how bad it would be in its third season.) "Lost" had a fairly big cast but look at how many great characters it had. The ideas are more satisfying and the writing is much better. There is usually at least one truly transcendent moment in "Lost" each episode. I'm not sure the first half of season 2 of "The Walking Dead" had one. Even the zombie slaughter and Sophia reveal was sort of lame and was hinted at in the far superior graphic novels.

4) "Infuse Some Fresh Blood". I agree 100%! This show needs characters that we care about. Obviously they can't add Locke or Kate, but they need somebody cool. It's not to late to add the former NFL player, Tyrese, and his son. Get rid of Lori and find a new ass kicking love interest for Rick. Or Maggie has potential, she's the only character from Hershel's farm worth a damn. But please add someone transcendent that will kick this season in the butt.

5) "Reinvent the Characters", see #4. Also why has Daryl turned into such a wuss? Getting flowers and romancing Carol, at least in his own way.

6) "Own the Zombies" Let's be honest people watch this show because of the zombies. Without zombies this show would be cancelled. Make the zombies much more interesting and consistent. I laugh at the convenient zombies. They should always be fearsome. And a zombie attacking a shoe when a whole body is available? Really? Then make what the humans do in response much more interesting. If Dale isn't made for this world then let him commit suicide in one of the upcoming episodes. Make it dramatic and add some spark to this show. Dale's suicide would help start to resolve many of the weak characteristics of this show.

One final sports related note: according to ESPN Bobby Valentine's career record is 1117-1072. But by my count only two playoff appearances. I can't say I'm overly excited about this managerial decision.

Do you love Christmas music? amazon.com is doing something called 25 days of free. You can get a Christmas song free everyday from December 1st to December 25th. Songs so far this month have been from Celtic Woman and Brian Wilson.

Great songs: I'll start off with Miley Cyrus' "Who Owns My Heart". I'm purposefully not showing the original video. It's too skanky for my taste.

I wouldn't categorize myself as a big Bon Jovi fan, but I do like this song:

This is from the "American Idiot" Broadway Soundtrack. I think they did justice to the excellent Green Day CD.

This song is Tracy Chapman's "For My Lover". This song is from not only one of the best 80's CDs but also one of the best debut CDs ever. It's the 1988 self-titled CD "Tracy Chapman". I plan on checking out her 1989 CD today, "Crossroads" today. (Thanks Spotify.) I don't recognize any of the songs on Crossroads" though. The most popular song on this CD is "Fast Car". In fact I don't know Tracy disappeared too, but she needs to come back.

Here are a few other excellent songs off her debut CD:

"Baby Can I Hold You":

"Talking About A Revolution":

"Why":

"For You":

And of course I had to add "Fast Car" to my blog. I also added it to my iPod.

In listening to Chapman's 1989 CD "Crossroads" I can understand why she disappeared so quickly. It's not very good. Listening to the CD I don't even remember one of the songs.

themusicaddict

The Awesome Power of Mother Nature

2011-12-01T13:17:00.006-07:00

Hello,

Mother Nature reminded many people of who really is in charge late last night and this morning. A big windstorm hit Davis County, Utah. This morning I woke up like normal to ride my exercise bike. It's an electric exercise bike. As I was about to start riding, Mother Nature had other ideas. The power went out at about 6:15 am and that cancelled my exercise idea. It was so dark that I couldn't do much, I laid on my bed for a hour waiting for the sun. While looking outside with the power off and a harsh wind it felt very apocalyptic. Yeah I know I've been watching "The Walking Dead" too much.

Once it got light enough I stumbled around the house. The power still hadn't come back on, and I got ready as best as I could. With no power and internet I actually went to work a hour early. As I drove to work I saw one semi overturned. On the side of the road other semi's were lined up back to back down a long stretch of 1-15. Many schools closed down and a lot of people didn't go to work today. It's pretty scary when wind gusts hit 89 mph. Many trees that have been standing for years have been pushed down. The basketball hoop in the driveway has been damaged and will probably have to be replaced. My Dad's poor dog was so scared last night he didn't know what to do. Up to 25,000 people lost their power. Just another reminder of the awesome power of Mother Nature.

As I listened to the wind try and force it's way to the house where I live two songs came to mind:

I didn't want to know the answer blowin in this wind, Mr. Bob Dylan:

Arcade Fire seem to be appropriate music for the feeling like it's the end of the world. This is their "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)".

Here are some other great songs. First let's start with the Red Hot Chili Peppers:

The following song gives me goose bumps. I'm glad that Pearl Jam recorded this, but it was made for such a terrible movie. This is Pearl Jam's amazing cover of the Who classic:

Sheryl Crow's "Steve McQueen":

This is a song that someone recommended to me and I really like it. The band's name is Falling In Reverse. I'm always looking for the next big thing. However I don't think Falling In Reverse is going to be that. I think I've written about these guys before actually. Anyway their music is too derivative and I hate all the vulgarity. Enjoy this song at least:

I love Christmas music, so this blog will be featuring that over the next few weeks. As for someone that tries to be religious I believe Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The giving and receiving of gifts is fine but Jesus is the reason for the season. This is a great Christmas song, one of the most poignant Christmas songs there is. The end of this song always gets me. As the song starts it gets you so hopeful and grateful for the holidays and then comes the end of the song.

Again I love Christmas. But this is a music blog and not a preaching blog. I will let these great songs speak for themselves. One of the best Christmas CDs that came out over the last couple of years is Michael Crawford's "A Christmas Album". One of my favorite songs on that CD is "A Strange Way To Save The World". Now the original Broadway Phantom sings this song great, his version isn't on youtube. But this version is almost as good, what a beautiful message.

Don't worry I won't fill my blog with these kind of Christmas songs. I love rock music and some of the best Christmas songs are by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

This is your laugh of the day:

themusicaddict

Bobby Valentine New Red Sox Manager?, Adele again

2011-11-30T11:32:00.003-07:00

Hello,

It seems very likely that the Boston Red Sox will name Bobby Valentine to be their new manager today. Honestly I can't say I'm overly excited about this. I spent a few minutes trying to track down what his overall record as a manager was. I'm only considering the time he spent in MLB. The information I found is incomplete. There are a few years in the late 80's I can't find what his managing record with the Texas Rangers was. He was fired midway through the 1992 season so it can't be too good. The best I can tell with the limited information I have is his overall managing record is 431-378. Although I'm guessing the missing Texas years will bring his record closer to .500.

He's managed the Mets to the NLCS in 1998 before losing to the Braves 4-2 in the NLCS. In 1999 the Mets went to the World Series where they lost to the Yankees 4-1. He also finished second for the Manager Of the Year Award when he managed the Rangers in 1986.

So he's had some highlights, but I'm still not overwhelmed that he'll be managing the Red Sox. To me it seems the recycled old white guy syndrome. Instead of taking a chance on some young up and coming manager (Ryne Sandberg for instance) they go with a safe choice. It seems part of the corporate America cya thinking.

Obviously time will tell. He does have some experience and some success. Also when you have a team like the Red Sox do there should be a measure of success no matter who's managing them. I think this job is more about managing egos rather than x's and o's. It would also help if they can keep Jacoby Ellsbury long term and find some durable starting pitching.

Regular readers of this blog will know I'm a humongous fan of Spotify. I love nearly everything about it. I love how it's free, that I can listen to it any time I want for as long as I want. I love the more than 17 million songs available. I've saved a lot of money by listening to Spotify because I listen to CDs on Spotify before buying them. Also I've stumbled across bands I never would have any other way. Without Spotify I might not have ever heard of The Horrible Crowes. Of if I heard it might have only been in passing and I wouldn't have discovered the good songs they have.

My only complaint, and it's relatively minor, is that threes some music that they don't have. Although I'm not a big Bob Dylan fan, their fraction available of his music is a glaring omission. They also don't have the new Red Hot Chili Peppers "I'm With You" CD available. (By the way "I'm With You" as a CD title? Is that not the wimpiest CD title? A funk rock band should title their CD something like "Blood Sugar Sex Magic".) In fact, they don't have "Stadium Arcadium" available either. I also wanted to listen to the new Blink-182 CD "Neighborhoods" the other day, but it wasn't there. It has been added now though. That shows they are working hard to get all music on Spotify.

For some reason it seems Spotify has a problem getting live CDs. They don't have the live CDs from many prominent acts. For instance, they don't have Taylor Swift's "Speak Now World Tour Live" or "Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall". They also don't have Roger Water's " Wall: Live in Berlin 1990".

But other than those minor quibbles I love Spotify. Thanks Spotify for all the great, free music.

Thankfully the "Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall" was streaming at rolling stone.com. I listened to this CD about 3 times yesterday. She has such an amazing voice and this is another one of her inspired covers. This is the Steel Drivers (yeah I've never heard of them either) "If It Hadn't Been For Love":

The clip from Royal Albert Hall wasn't available, but the one from the iTunes festival is. I love this clip because we get to see a bit of her personality. She seems like she's very funny and unaffected. Of course Adele has that big voice. She may have to be added to my list of greatest voices ever.

From her Royal Albert Hall concert this is "Rolling In The Deep":

Head Coaching Football News, Who's Going To Win The NFC East? The Amazing Adele!

2011-11-29T15:39:00.006-07:00

Hello,

Although I do have a lot of things to take up my time, I still find time to read. I'm currently reading Michael Crichton's "The Lost World". This is the sequel to the amazing "Jurassic Park". I'm pretty sure I've read this book before and I don't have particularly fond memories of it. However I'm enjoying it much more this time. This sequel doesn't seem to be as exploitive as many other sequels. The story in this book is logical and feels like a natural follow up.

I've been a big Crichton fan since reading "Jurassic Park". Although he's now dead I was excited to see he had a new book out now. The title is "Micro", it has been finished by another author.

Urban Meyer has been named the new coach for Ohio State. The former Utah and Florida coach is a proven winner as he's won two BCS titles. His last team with the Utes was also a great team. It seems that most coaches just can't stay away. Good luck Urban.

It's also been announced that UCLA is firing Rick Neuheisel although he'll be allowed to coach the Pac 12 Championship Game. Is that a reward or a punishment for Neuheisel? What insane person wants the head coaching job at UCLA? Rumors are that UCLA may go after Boise State's Chris Peterson. But why would he want that job? He would be playing in a much bigger conference and probably make more money. He would also probably be able to have better recruiting. Of course he would have to battle against USC for the best of those players. If you had a choice which school would you go to? The team that wins a lot more and sends more players to the NFL or the Bruins?

However Peterson's teams wouldn't win as much. UCLA hasn't been relevant for how many years now? Although the Pac 12 is an automatic qualifying league, I'm not convinced he would have a better chance at winning a BCS Title there. He'd probably also have to give up a lot of his autonomy and would have to be the coach for the perennial little brother of USC. With all the conference shifting I see Boise State winding up in an aq conference soon enough.

It cracks me up that in the inaugural Pac 12 Championship game, that the game will be played between a top ten team in Oregon and an unranked UCLA team. The Bruins is the same team that is 6-6 overall and lost their last game by 50 points.

On to the NFL, who's going to win the NFC East? Good thing for the NFC West and the AFC West or this might be the worst division in the NFL. Just look at the pathetic NFC Least. Dallas has the best record at 7-4. However that doesn't mean they are the best team. This is the same team who already has had two humongous chokes, against the Jets and Lions. They also didn't look very good against a 3 win Miami team at home. They have a quarterback who only has one playoff victory and doesn't inspire very much confidence. The Cowboys also have an unproven head coach and a suspect defense. Plus Dallas still has to play New York twice this season and those Giants seem to have the Cowboys number. I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants win both of those games.

The best team in the division might be the 6-5 New York Giants. However they have lost 3 in a row and play the undefeated Green Bay Packers this weekend. The Giants defense gave up 49 points last night, how many will they give up against Green Bay? They also play those two games against Dallas, another rivalry game against the Redskins and on Christmas Eve play the Jets. The Jets that will be battling to make the playoffs. The Giants also have the most annoying coach, Tom Coughlin, in the NFL. Like Dallas they have a suspect quarterback in Eli Manning. Yes, I know he has won a Super Bowl. However I chalk that up to a miracle and not his skill. Of course they beat Dallas in those playoffs. (See above.)

Then we have the so called dream team the Philadelphia Eagles. Talking about a team that's less than the sum of it's parts. I'm still laughing Philadelphia gave Michael Vick a 5 year, $100 million contract. This team might be the team that gets Andy Reid fired. There are also problems with DeSean Jackson. At 4-7 the dream team has had a nightmare season and are out of the playoffs.

Lastly and lastly is the Washington Redskins. Since Daniel Snyder has been their owner it seems this team can't crack the mediocrity ceiling. It's hard to believe this is the same team that once had Art Monk, Joe Theisman and John Riggins. Snyder is almost as obnoxious as Jerry Jones, but at least the Cowboys have won under Jones. Albeit a long time ago. Have the Redskins even won a playoff game in the Daniel Snyder era? I don't know but I know they aren't going to win a playoff game this year. At least they don't have very high expectations to meet every year.

It's a good thing that at least one team from the NFC East has to go to the playoffs. If it wasn't for that rule this division might not have a playoff representative.

"The Walking Dead" TV show has many problems, one of those being way too many characters. They passed up a good chance to get rid of a few in the great zombie massacre of 2011. This show needs to get rid of some characters and oh yeah get the hell off of Hershel's farm. I was surprised though by a recent ew.com poll. They asked "Who Would You Kill Off On "The Walking Dead"? They listed several choices. They need to get rid of some characters and not replace them. By percentage of votes this is the Top 6 in the ew.com vote.

1) Shane at 19.14%. I don't understand why he's the highest vote getter. Sure the actor that plays him overacts and the story line regarding Lori is annoying. However he's one of the only people who does anything on this show. Remember it was his temper tantrum that lead to the explosive final for the first half of this season. What would this show be without Shane? It would even be worse.

2) T-Dog at 17.34%. I don't understand why he isn't the highest vote getter. What has he done on this show that's noteworthy? The writers coming up with that scene where he was whining on the highway shows they are desperate to find something relevant for him to do. Unfortunately this show already has too much talking. Robert Kirkman and Glenn Mazarra do us a favor and get rid of this space filler.

3) Carol at 12.12%. Like me you probably wondered who is Carol? She's better known as the Mom of the long lost zombie Sophia. In not even knowing this character's name shows how little of an impact she has made on my consciousness. I only think of her when she appears on my TV screen. This show can do quite well without her.

4) Andrea at 11.21%. Now I don't understand why she has received such a high percentage of votes. It was a little boring when her sister was still alive. But ever since she had to kill her sister she's actually becoming much more important to the show. Remember she's one of the shooters in the great zombie massacre and it didn't feel like it was to give her character to do something. She's become a very effective zombie killer. Even more importantly she's become a character who actually does something, which this show so desperately needs. Killing zombies check. Initiating sex with Shane check. Telling Dale to shut the hell up check. Three solid reasons to keep this character for the foreseeable future.

5) Dale at 9.68%. The Meddling Millie of the show. He really is a lame character, a character without anything interesting about him. When your defining characteristic is that he drives an RV, what does that tell you? When he finally does take action he makes dumb choices. Trying to get rid of guns in the zombie apocalypse? That's just plain stupid. He also seems to stir up trouble. He admits he isn't made for the world he's in, it's time for him to go asap.

6) Random Hershel family member at 9.47%. This show is already too cluttered, why introduce these random space filling characters. Other than Maggie, the characters on Hershel's farm are as brainless as the zombies they tried to protect.

All the characters are better in Kirkman's et al. graphic novels.

Here's a couple of good songs. I love this song by Meiko:

Do you remember this song?

You have to be old like me to remember this song, this is back from the best decade for music. That would be the 80's. I wrote about Geddy Lee's voice as now sounding whiny yesterday. I do not mean that as he was whining. Geddy I understand that it sucks getting older. This is a song that showcased his vocals at their best.

This is the amazing Adele from her "Live At Royal Albert Hall" CD that was released today. For a limited time Rolling Stone is streaming this whole CD. I would definitely suggest you check it out. Adele has an amazing live voice. She has a lot of her own amazing songs plus some inspired covers.

This is one of her inspired covers:

themusicaddict

Great songs!

2011-11-28T13:32:00.007-07:00

Hello,

I got so bored of writing my blog about "The Walking Dead" that I hurriedly finished it. And no I don't expect you to finish reading it either. However I do want to pass on some great songs.

Again I love this song and love how Taylor, her band and dancers performed it in concert. With how much of her music I've listened to over the past few weeks, I have started getting sick of some of her songs. However I haven't got sick of "Speak Now" yet.

Nancy Sinatra's great song:

I'm starting to get into The Horrible Crowes, here's one of my favorite of their songs:

This is another song by The Horrible Crowes, this is "Behold The Hurricane":

This is a bit of an obscure song but it came up while listening to iTunes on random. This is Ozmatli's "It's Only Paper".

Yes I know lot's of people mock Creed for many things. I originally was one of the mockers but over time I got to where I liked their music. I even went and saw them in concert. A band that seemed like it wasn't built to last. But in their time they did have several good songs. I love this song:

Do you remember Harvey Danger? If not here's their great song:

Rush's "Red Barchetta" live. Rush recently released "Live In Cleveland", it has all their classic songs on it. Unfortunately Geddy Lee's voice is sounding very whiny now days. Other than being a Rush completist, I wouldn't suggest anyone else by "Live In Cleveland".

One more classic Rush song, this is the amazing "Tom Sawyer". I like a band that can poke fun at itself.

themusicaddict

"The Walking Dead": "Pretty Much Dead Already" (Spoiler Alert) Partial Blog.

2011-11-27T20:27:00.009-07:00

Hello,

Tonight's episode started out with Rick's gang all outside hanging out eating breakfast. When tonight's episode started I was cleaning up and only paid half attention, that's how boring it started out. Again Glenn is stuck in the cross hairs. On one hand he looks and sees Maggie, his lover, shaking her head "no". But he looks to his left and Dale is nodding his head yes. (Of course it's the Meddling Millie of the bunch who's urging Glenn to tell everyone.) Glenn tells everyone that the barn is full of walkers

Daryl talks with Sophia's Mom again he tells her they'll find Sophia. They have a moment and seem about ready to get together. I know the options are limited in the Zombie Apocalypse, but that pairing still seems a little strange to me.

Rick, thinking he's still the leader, goes and talks to Hershel about what's in the barn. This leads to Hershel telling Rick he wants Rick and his people off his farm by the end of the week. I think Shane has a point about Rick not being made for this world. Rick begs Hershel for his people to stay on the farm. He also tells Hershel that his wife is pregnant. If I was Hershel I'd be skeptical about that, the timing seems too convenient. Rick tells Hershel about how it is really out in the world and that his farm is protected. I'm sorry that's just so hard to believe that his farm has been safe from zombies.

Hershel only saw the zombies on the TV, he has no idea how dangerous they are. It still seems it's highly unlikely that he wouldn't want to kill them. Zombies only have one purpose, that is to eat and infect people. Why would you want to save someone like that? Hershel would say because they are his family. Except there's no proof that they are still family.

Hershel and Maggie later talk about how she wants them to stick around and quotes Jesus. It's not just for Glenn either. It seems like she's believing in the safety in numbers idea. Of Hershel's people she seems to be the one most in touch with reality. Maybe that's why she's reaching out to Glenn, maybe it's not sex she's looking for.

Glenn and Maggie have a fight. She smashes an egg over his head. He asks her why would she destroy a precious egg? She responds that she thinks it's a rotten egg. That obviously is a pointed comment at Glenn. It's that kind of small detail that has kept me watching this show so far. The egg being smashed over Glenn's head leads to the most disgusting moment of the whole show: Glenn putting on Dale's hat. Why would he want to wear that grimy, nasty thing.

Later Glenn explains to her why he told the others about the walkers in the barns. He'd rather have her mad at him and safe rather than dead and happy with him. He says "no more secrets". Those are some of the sweetest words of dialogue in this season. It's because of all the secrets that we've had so much dissatisfying story telling. Of course, it's these secrets that have been giving this season it's stories. If there hadn't been secrets what would have been the story lines. Without those secrets propping up the story, the writers and producers would have had to be creative in coming up with the story.

Later Shane confronts Lori about about how many times he's saved her life. He's obviously still wanting to be with Lori. Lori seems to be conflicted between Rick and Shane. I'm not even sure why we have the Shane and Lori scene. It seems completely pointless to the rest of the episode. That scene gives the two biggest over actors in the show a chance to even kill the show more. It seems the more the show strays from the graphic novel the worse it becomes. Remember in the graphic novel Shane dies fairly early on. I can see why the producers kept him on in the show though. Without him and Daryl who would be able to protect everyone.

For the second consecutive episode Shane and the annoying Dale have another confrontation. Again Dale remains one of this show's most worthless characters. Dale has a brilliant idea: he's going to take all the guns and dispose of them. Yeah that's a good idea in the zombie apocalypse. I have no idea what's the upside to his plan. If Dale wants to maintain his humanity, he should have swallowed a bullet a long time ago. Again just another stupid story line from the show.

Love him or hate him at least Shane is a man of action. Of course Dale can't prevent Shane from getting the guns back. Then Dale whines about how he may not be long for this world but at least he has his humanity or some such pretentious bullshit. "Yawn" The drivel these characters are forced to say. There's a difference between hating a character and not caring about a character. I don't care about Dale or his fate. What do the producers plan on doing with him and T-Dog. For the most part now they are just taking up space. I was hoping that the zombies would take out T-Dog or Dale at the end of this episode.

Then Hershel wants Rick to help him and they have those poles with a loop at the end and Hershel gets Rick to help him to take these two walkers back to the barn. I understand Rick wanting to stay at Hershel's farm and getting along so that he can. But he's seen what these walkers can do and he knows how dangerous they are. He just lays down and goes against all of his hard earned knowledge just to get along?

Meanwhile Shane is outside of Hershel's house trying to start a revolution to kill the zombies in the barn. The guns he took back from Dale, he starts handing out candy. He's obviously knows what he wants to do and nothing is going to get in his way. He's going to give a gun to Carl but Mom Grimes says that it's not Shane's call. More overacting from Sarah Wayne Callies. She's brutally bad.

Rick, Hershel and son? come back. Shane demonstrates how these walkers aren't people. He continues shooting one of the zombies in holder. The zombie keeps on coming until he finally shoots it in the head. That's one of the hard earned things that Rick and gang learned out in the real world.

Shane continues his temper tantrum and breaks the locks on the barn. Of course no one else in this lifeless bunch stops him. The only one who would stop him is Daryl and I think Daryl quite likes shooting zombies. He's the Woody Harrelson of this zombie show. This leads to the big conclusion. The zombies come shuffling out of the barn. Shane, Daryl, Andrea and the suddenly awake T-Dog line up in firing range style and kill all the zombies. Then at the end a teenage female zombie comes out of the barn. This of course is the long lost Sophia. The character this show has wasted 7 hours of my life trying to find. And she's been in the barn the whole time.

I'm incredulous beyond belief about this story line. Again in the superior graphic novels Sophia is still very much alive. How long was Sophia in the barn? Who was the one that put her in the barn? How did they do it and keep it a secret from Rick's crew. If Hershel wants to get rid of Rick and his people so bad why didn't he tell Rick? How did they keep the other zombies in the barn while putting Sophia in there?

Hershel could just watch helplessly as his precious zombies were mowed down. Again in the graphic novel this scene is so much more realistic. The zombies get out and they actually kill some of Hershel's family. That leads to Rick's group leaving the Hershel's damn boring farm.

From the previews it looks like when the show resumes again on February 12th they will still be on Hershel's farm. Why? I love how one of the previews shows something about Hershel going missing. The way the preview is cut it looks like that Rick is going after him. Again John Locke, Sayid, Sawyer, Jack, Kate, Ana Lucia please report to "The Walking Dead" stat.

It's 2.5 months until the second half of season two starts. Will I continue watching it then? I'm not sure. With how dumb the story lines have been and with how slow the pace has been I could have forgot about it by then. Of course in the mean time "Mad Men" is going to have it's start. And AMC likes to run to death it's previews for upcoming shows so I'll probably receive many reminders for it.

Other than "Mad Men" I've pretty much given up on AMC at this point. From how average "The Walking Dead" has been to how lame "The Killing" ended to how bad and boring the first episode of "Hell On Wheels" was. I had set "Hell on Wheels" to record, but last night I went through and deleted all of the episodes from my DVR. AMC should change their advertising slogan to the worst original stories.

"The Walking Dead"... epic fail.

themusicaddict

"The Walking Dead" Midseason Finale (What a Bunch of Crap That Is) Is Tonight

2011-11-27T15:01:00.003-07:00

Hello,

http://watching-tv.ew.com/2011/11/27/walking-dead-season-2-episode-7-sophia/

The above is the link to Ken Tucker's preview about tonight's midseason finale of "The Walking Dead". Tucker writes it's pretty much awful until the final scene. I've included the link so you can form your own opinion. After tonight this zombie show is going on extended hiatus until February 12th. There's no truth to the rumor that the actors playing the main characters are actually zombies. If tonight's episode sucks will you be back in February? I know that season 3 has already been green lighted, can they un green light it?

I keep on watching this show because it has so much potential. However it has failed to deliver on that potential for so long, I'm starting to doubt it ever will. Tonight will be the 7th episode dealing with the Sophia gone missing story line. That may be the most boring story line on any of AMC's original programming. If that hasn't resolved by tonight, it will be a travesty. Honestly it should have lasted no more than 2 or 3 episodes. It's the kind of story line that makes me wonder if Veena Sud has become the show runner for this show. She's the awful show runner for "The Killing".

Tonight's episode title for "The Walking Dead" is sort of a self preview. It's titled "Pretty Much Dead Already". Why does that phrase seem like it will be part of another one of those boring, drama sucking speeches by Lori Grimes? She's not the best character in the graphic novels, but the actress playing her has reduced her to a little more than a stock character. It doesn't get worse than a terrible actor playing a terrible character. If "The Walking Dead" somehow survives the Lori Grimes character needs a much better actress. Can they find a new actress to play this role starting when this show starts again on February 12th? This show needs a Kate Austen or an Ana Lucia.

Meanwhile I continue working through "Lost". I watched Season 3, episode 3 last night. It's the one titled "Further Instructions". The flashbacks are for Locke where he realizes he's more of a farmer than a hunter. After being in a sweat lodge Boone comes and tells him he has to go clean up his own mess. To do that Locke has to save Mr. Kko, who has been dragged away by a polar bear. Locke and Charlie go to a cave and save Mr. Eko from the polar bear.

In thinking about the comparison and contrast between the characters of those two series is amazing. That's one of the many reasons why "Lost" is so much better than "The Walking Dead". Look at the great and interesting characters in "Lost". There's Locke, Sawyer, Jack, Mr. Eko, Kate, Ana Lucia etc. It really has no awful characters, although I don't miss Micheal or Walt. Now let's look at the interesting characters in "The Walking Dead". There's, um huh.... Both Rick and Shane could be interesting but they do too much talking and don't get enough action. Could you imagine "Lost" have a 7 episode arc about a missing character that leads to a bunch of dead ends?

Now let's look at the awful characters in "The Walking Dead". The lame T-Dog, the opinionated stupid Dale, the Kurtzian Hershel, the above mentioned Lori, Sophia, Sophia's Mom and up until now Carl Grimes. Although he did get a little spark of life in the last episode. I'm hoping at least two of those characters become zombie food when hopefully the zombies get out of the barn tonight.

Two more quick things. I went and saw a couple of movies over the weekend. One of the most polarizing movies in a long time seems to be "Hugo". I want and saw it with 3 friends Friday night and we all agreed that it was awful. It's dreadfully boring and it doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be. It starts out as a kid film, but about halfway through it changes to a movie honoring the silent movie era. There's only the most tenuous link between the two vastly different halves of the movie.

The movie is directed by Martin Scorcese so he obviously usually knows what he's doing. I also can see what kind of movie he was trying to make here. In the core of the movie lies a great story, but the execution is terrible. (Wow that reminds me exactly of "The Walking Dead".)

I also went and watched "The Muppets" last night and that was a much better movie. I loved the show as a kid, especially the two old men in the balcony. They don't see enough time in this movie though. But overall this was a pretty good movie. I liked a lot of the music in the movie. So much so that I was listening to Muppets music on Spotify last night. The Muppets Christmas music is also pretty good.

Here are a couple of my favorite Muppet songs ever. I feel a bit silly but I absolutely love "The Rainbow Connection":

This is probably favorite song from the movie:

"Man or Muppet":

themusicaddict

Greed Wins Again, Utes Don't

2011-11-26T07:56:00.003-07:00

Hello,

In the NBA it looks like there's been a "handshake agreement". Once again greed is the winner in major professional sports leagues. David Stern said "We want to play basketball". But obviously what he's really saying is "We want to make money". Anything to get those games played on Christmas Day. Training camps open on December 9th. (Just for a contrast. MLB just barely reached an agreement on a new 5 year CBA. Here are the stats: Days on Lockout/Strike: 0, Drama: 0, Greed: a much lesser amount than either the NFL or NBA.) Provided the Christmas Day schedule doesn't change there will be three games that day. First there will be New York-Boston. The NBA's most hyped team vs. a very old team. The only reason to watch this game would be to laugh at the lack of chemistry between Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire.

The second game will be Miami-Dallas in a NBA Finals rematch. The last game of the day will be Chicago vs. the Lakers. I'm predicting that Carlos Boozer will be injured for this game. Long rumored in these negotiations is an amnesty clause. That's where a team could dump a bad, expensive contract. I haven't been able to find out if the amnesty is part of this CBA. Although unlikely, I would love if the Bulls used the amnesty clause on Loozer. Both these games could be interesting, depending on well the teams can play cohesively.

Now for those Utah Utes. In spite of this being the last regular season game of the season.... In spite of this game being senior day for 18 departing seniors... In spite of the Utes having a chance to play in the Pac 12 Championship Game against Oregon.... In spite of Utah playing the worst team in the Pac 12.... (In the could've, would've, should've department: California beat Arizona St. last night. If the Utes had beat Colorado last night, they would have qualified for the Pac 12 Championship game after USC beats UCLA today.) In spite of all those things the Utes still lost.

That's an extremely disappointing result for my alma mater. Ute kicker Coleman Peterson probably feels the worst of any Ute. He was clutch in kicking three field goals in snowy, windy conditions last week against WSU. However on a cold, clear day in Salt Lake City he missed all three of his field goals.

The Utes will now finish their first Pac 12 season by playing a meaningless bowl game. But at least it won't be as meaningless as the Armed Forces Bowl.

themusicaddict

Dallas Cowboys: Is 7-4 mostly Smoke and Mirrors?, Great Songs

2011-11-25T09:48:00.004-07:00

Hello,

The Dallas Cowboys beat a very average Miami Dolphins team yesterday. Sure Miami had won 3 games in a row, but that still made them a 3-7 team. Their head coach is on the hot seat and will probably be fired at the end of the season. And Dallas still barely won 20-19. I know Rob Ryan is supposed to be a defensive guru, but his defense still suffer severe lapses at times. Their corners are awful, when they can play. Terrance Newman played yesterday and was abused a few times. The other starting corner, Mike Jenkins, missed the game to injury, again. Then their backups aren't very good either. Obviously new corner backs should be their #1 offseason priority.

After giving up four straight scoring drives that put Miami in front, Dallas finally came up with the big stop when they needed it. Then their offense was able to drive the ball down the field for Dan Bailey's very clutch field goal.

I'll have to admit that Tony Romo looked very good yesterday, especially in the second half. Although he threw two terrible interceptions in the first quarter. Then later in the second half he threw up a pass that somehow found it's way into Jason Witten's waiting arms for a first down. Still I never want to see him throw a pass like that again.

I like the emergence of Laurent Robinson and DeMarco Murray, two players who weren't a big part of the Cowboys offensive plans at the start of the season. Of course both benefitted from injuries. When both tissue thin Dez Bryant and Miles Austin were injured, Robinson got his chance. He has been a fantastic wide receiver since then, he caught two touchdown passes yesterday. Then Felix Jones got injured and they cut Tashard Choice, who's been very ineffective with the Redskins, and now Murray is the starting running back. I love that Murray is such a bruising runner. Now it seems that Jones is basically used for returning kickoffs.

There are some good things happening in Dallas but still it feels like a lot of the success is playing bad teams and smoke and mirrors. The Romocoaster has been up the last few games, that means he's due for a crash. What does it say about Romo that the Cowboys put a claim in on Kyle Orton when the Broncos released him. (Note to Denver Broncos, you really are putting your team in the hands of Tim Tebow? Damn that's crazy. I know he's playing well now and the Broncos are winning, but believe me it's not going to last. My son's team is the Broncos and I've tried to warn him away from a lifetime of heart break, but he won't listen.)

Now the next time he throws up a pass like he did against Miami the next time it will probably go for a pick six. The team continues to struggle with injuries, fortunately they've found better replacements for now. But that defense seems to have a few holes, especially in the secondary. Every time a pass is thrown their way I hope the quarterback overthrows their intended target. Hell Terrance Newman couldn't even stop a reception yesterday when he was tackling the receiver.

Dallas closes with 5 games I could see them losing. Although they have played two crappy teams the last two weeks they've just barely won. Next week they go to play Arizona, another not very good team. But I could see Dallas losing this game. They still have two more games against the yo yo New York Giants. They also play Philadelphia one more time, the mediocre Eagles destroyed and embarrassed Dallas the last time they played. This game will be in Dallas this time. Dallas is 5-1 at home, but they haven't played great at home for the most part. Their other game will be against Tampa Bay, a team that has under performed this season.

If everything breaks their way, Dallas could finish as the NFC's #3 seed. Now do I think that will happen? Are you crazy? No it won't happen, in fact I'd be very surprised if they make the playoffs. I'm just waiting for the Romocoaster to crash and Coach Garrett make another boneheaded decision. For the Cowboys it just seems that the whole is not bigger than the collection of their parts. In spite of being 7-4 I just have no confidence that the Dallas Cowboys team is that good.

Two other quick NFL notes, can anyone beat Green Bay? They just continue rolling, are we going to see Green Bay as the two time defending Super Bowl champs? I hope not, they are a boring champion.

The other two teams I cheer for are the 49ers and the Buccaneers. I'm very disappointed in the Buccaners, they've vastly under performed this season. They battled against Green Bay last week, but just couldn't pull out the win. They aren't making the playoffs this year.

In an ugly defensive battle San Francisco lost to Baltimore last night 16-6. San Francisco is now 9-2 but still should qualify for the #2 seed in the NFC. San Francisco should finish 13-3. Their last five games they play Pittsburgh and 4 poor sisters of the NFC West. I think their big question is how far will Alex Smith take them? I have even less faith in Smith than I do Tony Romo. The 49ers have been brilliant so far in limiting his downside and maximizing his limited upside. But how far will that go? I see some defensive coordinator licking his chops at playing a team with Smith as their starting quarterback. All San Francisco has done is win this year, but I feel less than comfortable about their Super Bowl chances. I do think they have a better chance than the Cowboys in winning the Super Bowl though.

Here's a great song for your day after Thanksgiving funk:

Every time I hear this song I think it's Ryan Adams. I then have to look at iTunes to be reminded it's Loudon Wainwright. This is "Motel Blues", a very strange song:

Another strange little ditty, but I think this is a cool song.

Great Romeo songs:

I know I've had this song on my blog several times, but it's just an amazing song. Dire Straits "Romeo and Juliet":

The great Billy Idol has his own Romeo song, this song kicks butt:

Steve Forbert's "Romeo's Tune":

From the "Romeo and Juliet" movie:

themusicaddict

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T08:01:00.000-07:00