Hello,
I've been enjoying the new Neon Trees CD this morning, the title is "Picture Show". You remember Neon Trees, don't you? The band from Provo, Utah that absolutely exploded a couple of years ago with this song:
They are also featured in a current television ad. I can't remember what for, because I pay as little attention to commercials as possible. When Taylor Swift was on tour in Salt Lake she sang the same Neon Trees song:
Some of the incredibly catchy and better songs off "Picture Show":
"Trust": (sadly only a snippet of the least interesting part of the song)
Then a song they sing with Kaskade, "Lessons In Love":
Although the above is a great song, it shouldn't be confused with the Level 42 classic:
Speaking of bands, I have a great band name for aspiring rockers: The Disastrous First Year of Bobby Valentine. Obviously a reference to the beleaguered Red Sox manager. He's been criticized by all-time Red Sox great Curt Schilling, criticized his own current player Kevin Youkilis and has "led" the Red Sox to a 4-8 start. Yes, that's the same Youkilis that was called "The Greek God of Walks" in the book "Moneyball".
I watched about the last inning of the Red Sox-Rangers game last night. It looked like the Red Sox were going to rally. That is until Jarrod Saltamachia hit into a double play. He hit the ball hard, the Ranger player just made a great play. After the play the camera panned to Valentine's face, he looked like he was in shock. He also had the look that he had no idea what to do. It's that second look that worries me the most. That loss dropped the Red Sox to 4-8 as they remain last in the AL East. They trail first place Baltimore, never thought I would write that, by 3 games. There's no shame in losing to the Rangers, they are currently MLB's best team. However giving up 24 runs in two games is terrible. According to espn.com, Boston's Poff is 29.9%.
Red Sox fans: Terry Francona will be at Fenway on Friday. Will someone please kidnap him and make him manage the Red Sox? I never thought I would long for the days of the beer and chicken Red Sox.
Another team that is struggling, but very few people are surprised by, is the Chicago Cubs. Currently the Cubs are tied for the second worst record in MLB. The Cubs are 3-9 and tied with the Royals for that dubious second to worst record in MLB. But both teams are hot on the trail of MLB's worst team, the 3-10 Padres. A Cubs-Padres series would be about as exciting as a Bobcats-Wizards NBA game.
Other Cubs lowlights from their early season of hell: Chicago is 3-7 over their last 10 games. Chicago has lost 4 games in a row. They are also sixth, and last, place in the NL Central. After only playing 12 games, the Cubs trail first place St. Louis by 6 games. According to espn.com's Playoff percentage, they have a 8.9% chance of making the playoffs. Of course, only 1/13th way through the season that statistic can tell us very little. However it is a good statistic to tell how bad the Cubs early part of the season has been.
Update: Thankfully Epstein says he's building for the long term, which I think is the exactly right thing to do. I would rather have a sustained time of excellence. That's better than one season of greatness by mortgaging your own future. With the Cubs losing Thursday, they now drop to 3-10 on the season. And that kind of crappy play is painful to Cubs fans. But when isn't it painful to be a Cubs fan? But for the long run Epstein is making the right choices now.
The world's biggest whiner has struck again. It seem poor wittle Dwight got his feelings hurt. Allegedly he called Magic owner Rich DeVos and said he didn't want to play for Stan Van Gundy any more. To be fair it seems there's some dispute whether Dwight actually made this call. But this kind of whining is exactly what Howard has done many times in the past. He's missed 6 games due to "back spasms" already and could miss the entire postseason for the Magic. That's a well thought out move by Dwight though. This way when the Magic get unceremoniously dumped from the playoffs in the early rounds yet again Howard won't be blamed. And as usual as his teammates fight for playoff positioning, Howard is only worried about his #1 priority: himself.
Quite simply Dwight Howard is the Tony Romo of the NBA. Both have great stats and a lot of athletic ability, but neither will ever win a title. But at least I think Romo plays his heart out, he just chokes in the clutch. Howard has no heart at all. He's just there for the paycheck and attention. If I were the Magic I would get rid of Howard asap. I don't know that I would keep Van Gundy, but I wouldn't make that decision based on Howard's input.
Great songs:
Linkin Park's "Somewhere I Belong":
Michael Jackson's amazing "Dirty Diana":
And back from when "American Idol" was still relevant, this is Alexis Grace's excellent version of "Dirty Diana". Grace was sent home way too early. Sadly the video's embedding is disabled by request. A Fox show having greed, who would have thunk?
The B-52s' "Rock Lobster". It takes about 25 seconds for the sound to start. This song takes me back to the good old days of stomps:
Dwight Yoakam's "Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose":
Bloc Party's "Banquet":
Okay there's nothing going on in my life that's making me think of this song, this is just a great song. A slice of the great 80's pure pop. Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam:
Most of Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam's songs were upbeat, here are a couple of my favorites. This is "I Wonder If I Take You Home". Lisa Lisa's voice sounds kind of tinny on this song and it does run on a bit long. But other than that it's a great song. This song shows that making a pop song doesn't have to be hard or complicated. This song is built around a simple synth track. Many great 80's songs were built around a simple synth track.
"Lost In Emotion":
Last, and certainly not least, the extremely catchy "Head To Toe":
themusicaddict
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