Random Notes

Hello,

It's kind of a slow time in the music world right now, so I don't have much today. As has been well documented several places there will be a fourth judge added to "American Idol". Her name is Kara DioGuardi. She was written songs for many people including Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Pink and Carrie Underwood. (I mention Carrie Underwood any time I can.) The "AI" producers are saying the fourth judge adds an extra flavor to the show. That idea is based on some of the inter-national "AI" series and how well a 4 person judging panel works there. I am all for adding an extra judge, but please get rid of Paula and Randy. Kara and Simon should just be fine. When was the last time Paula had a coherent thought and I am tired of Randy's standard five phrases. Why do we need judges at all? If we absolutely have to have judges lets minimize their impact. Let's put the spotlight on the singers and music, which is most people watch the show anyway. Have you ever heard anyone say they want to watch "AI" for the judges? I thought not. I would prefer to hear each performer sing the full song, not some chopped up 90 second version. Let Ryan Seacrest handle all the non-performance stuff. But please, please, please get rid of Paula and Randy.

B.B. King released his latest CD on Tuesday, it is titled "One Fine Favor". To be honest I was a little disappointed in this CD. The intent of the CD was for him to get back to basics. I took that to mean he would playing some of that blistering Chicago 50's blues. Theres's not too much of that, but there is a lot of realitively mellow music. The producer he was working with was T. Bone Burnett. Burnett was the mastermind behind the Robert Plant and Allison Krauss "Raising Sand" CD. I wish King would have picked a producer who would insisted on more of that blistering blues music. In my opinion Buddy Guy's "Skin Deep" is still the best blues CD of the year.

Other rock news: AC/DC's new song is available to stream at rs.com. It's called "Rock N Roll Train". I was surprised with how good this song is. I am looking forward to excellent CD's by both them and Metallica if the lead singles are any indication of the quality of the music. I also welcome both of them back because we need some rock in this lame era of crap-hop music. Speaking of great rock music, here's a band you need to check out, Eon MegaHertz. They RAWK! and you can get two of their songs free at rcrdlbl.com. Definitely check them out. If you are wanting to be on the cutting edge for hot music, now is the time to jump on their bandwagon. On last.fm they only have 582 listens so far. Also I very excitedly went to NBCOlympics.com to check out the performance by Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page from the 2008 Closing Olympics ceremony. However the version they have has horrible sound. It is so bad I could only listen to it for a few seconds. They blocked people on youtube.com from showing their own versions.

A couple more notes I know I have mentioned this before but Whitesnake has a live double CD titled "Standing In The Shadow Of The Blues" that absolutely rocks. I have enjoyed it on Rhapsody a few times. When I get the money I am just going to be buying it. There is a new band out called Scars on Broadway, they have two of the musicians from System Of A Down. Scars on Broadway rocks, I think they are a much better band than System Of A Down.

Finally a quick review of some movies I have seen Comcast On Demand recently. First "Mannequin" the 80's classic starring the incredibly hot Kim Cattrall. It is so typical of 80's movies, it has the cheesy synth music. Also the storyline is cheesy and I was surprised how much sex references and innuendo it has. From my rememberance of the first time that I saw it, I remember it as being fairly chaste. I was wrong on that. It is an okay movie and has a few laughs. Second "Thunderheart" the movie starring Val Kilmer. Kilmer plays a half-Indian FBI detective going back to the reservation to confront his true identity. If that sounds terrible to you, you are right. Overall a pretty stupid movie. (Although I do have to give a shout out to Val Kilmer for his performance of Jim Morrison in the "The Doors". He played Jim Morrison with great charisma and captured the essence of Jim Morrison.) Last but not least and definitely not best either. Third "Blown Away" starring Tommy Lee Jones. This was an okay movie but one thing about it really made me laugh. Jones character is from Ireland, so the makers of this movie worked in U2 music. I guess that was suppose to add a air of legitimacy to the whole Irish angle. However it doesn't. I am fine with movies playing all the U2 they want though. The makers of this movie only did it for money reasons, not due to artistic impulse.

Now my friends I am actually working at a temporary job Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So my next blog entry probably won't be until Monday. So if you miss my blog I will leave a list of some great CD's to enjoy. These CD's are in no particular order. 1) "Skin Deep"- Buddy Guy 2) "Back In Black"- AC/DC, 3) "Appetite For Destruction"- Guns N' Roses 4) "Pyromania"- Def Leppard 5) Any CD by Led Zeppelin, even "Coda" 6) "Vs."- Pearl Jam 7) "Taking The Long Way"- The Dixie Chicks 8) "Accelerate"- R.E.M 9) "Like A Virgin"-Madonna 10) "Graceland" by Paul Simon and 11) Greatest Hits by the Doors. That is a fantastic line-up of some of the greatest music of all-time.

Have a fantastic Labor Day weekend and drive smart, themusicaddict