themusicaddict's Selected Madonna's Greatest Hits

Hello,

This blog was inspired by "Like A Prayer" being the first song to play on my iPod on my morning walk. I've been enjoying Madonna's amazing music all morning. I use the word selected, as it would take a long time to create a blog that featured all of Madonna's great songs. Madonna and collaborators thanks for all the amazing musical memories, hopefully you still have a few more up your sleeves. And yes I've written similar blogs before, but hey it's my blog...........

Starting with the song that inspired this blog, "Like A Prayer":

Sticking with the "Like A" theme, "Like A Virgin":

This might be my most favorite Madonna song, "Papa Don't Preach":

I realize these aren't Madonna songs per se, but I still like her versions of the next 3 songs from "Evita". "Buenos Aires":

"Rainbow High":

"Rainbow Tour": ("But if you're prettier than General Franco, that's not hard.")

"Borderline":

Another Madonna song that I absolutely love, "Live To Tell":

Of course we can't forget "Crazy For You":

"Dress You Up":

"Into The Groove":

"Material Girl":

I keep on thinking I'm done with this blog and then I remember another song, usually followed by "I can't believe I almost forgot that song." (I don't know if I have ever seen this video before.)

"True Blue":

"Vogue":

"Express Yourself":

Here's "The Immaculate Collection" if you just want to jam uninterrupted for almost 72 minutes:

themusicaddict

"Plectrumelectrum" Finally Has A Release Date: September 30th, 2014

Hello,

Prince announced on Monday that he's releasing two CDs on September 30th. The two CDs are "Plectrumelectrum", which he made with 3rdEyeGirl, and "Art Official Age".  The second CD is a solo CD. Of the two CDs, the one I'm most excited about is the CD he made with 3rdEyeGirl. From what I've heard it sounds like it's Prince's return to the great funky sound of "Purple Rain" days. I hope that after it's released, there's at least a couple good days of weather so that I can jam this CD while I'm driving around.

Here's "Plectrumelectrum's" track list:

1. "Wow"
2. "Pretzelbodylogic":

3. "Aintturninround"

4. "Plectrumelectrum"
5. "Whitecaps"
6. "Fixurlifeup" (With a bit of "Let's Go Crazy" mixed in.):

7. "Boytrouble"

8. "Stopthistrain"
9. "Anotherlove"
10. "Tictactoe"
11. "Marz"
12. "Funknroll":

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/prince-new-albums-plectrumelectrum-and-art-official-age-20140825#ixzz3BWwTtooN
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

On the same day he'll be releasing a solo CD, "Art Official Age". I'm not as impressed with the songs I heard on this CD. Here's that track list:

1. "Art Official Cage"
2. "Clouds"
3. "Breakdown"
4. "The Gold Standard"
5. "U Know"
6. "Breakfast Can Wait":

7. "This Could Be Us"

8. "What It Feels Like"
9. "Affirmation I & II"
10. "Way Back Home"
11. "Funknroll"
12. "Time"
13. "Affirmation III"

As you can see the CDs share "Funknroll", is it two different versions? Thanks to rs.com for some of the information in this blog.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Songs of the Day (A semi irregular feature.)

Hello,

Just a couple of great songs. A song you might have forgotten, a cover you might not know about and a couple of surprises. As always, enjoy!

Jason Mraz's "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)":

The AcaBelles' cover of "Royals":

STP's "ILS" (Stone Temple Pilot's "Interstate Love Song"):

Sticking with STP, "Wicked Garden":

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Review of Andy Weir's "The Martian" (Finished September 1st, 2014 with Spoilers), Glossary

Hello,

This is my review of the book "The Martian" by Andy Weir. I don't know how it worked out, but I updated this blog as I reading through the book. I'm looking forward to an exciting ending. But who knows Mars is doing it's best to kill Watney. There are spoilers, please consider that before reading this blog. You could always come back and read this blog when you are down reading it. By all means if you either agree or disagree with me, please let me know.

It seems that either Weir thinks most readers have a working knowledge of astronaut acronyms or he didn't think it necessary to give us some explanation about the acronyms. I'm going to provide that service for you. I'm not sure when this story is taking place, Weir doesn't give many clues of the which years this story is happening. Here are some acronyms, shortened words and what they are/mean.

The Hab- short for the Mars Lander habitat: a place the astronauts can relax without wearing a space suit.
EVA: Extra-Vehicular Activity- a spacesuit they wear when the astronauts explore the area beyond the hab
MAV: Mars Ascent Vehicle- the device the astronauts use to leave Mars surface when they left on short notice or when a mission is complete.
MDV: Mars Descent Vehicle: the device they use to land on Mars
Sol is a Solar Day, which is 24 hours, 39 minutes
RTG: Radioisotope Thermonuclear Generator, which is an "electrical generator.... converts heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material".
ARES: Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey- essentially 5 different missions exploring different parts of Mars. Watney is a crew member of Ares 3. For him to get rescued he has to find a way to get to ARES 4 so he can use that MAV to meet the Hermes.
Mars Opportunity rover: it landed on Mars in 2004, as of July 28th, 2014 it had traveled over 25 miles, which is about 40 kilometers. If the rover is able to continue on and get to 26.2 miles it will be able to examine what is called Marathon Valley. (mars.jpl.nasa.gov)
Mars Pathfinder, landed on Mars on July 4th, 1997- it seemed to be only effective for a couple of years. (mars.jpl.nasa.gov)
Phobos, which Watney uses to navigate by, is the inner most of Mars two moons. It's also the largest of the two moons. Phobos is closer to any planet than any other moon in the solar system. (www.seasky.com)
Deneb: brightest star in constellation Cygnus, one of the vertices of the summer triangle and the 19th brightest star in the night sky. It's many more times illuminos than our own sun. (This is essential copied verbatim from the Wikipedia site for Deneb.)

(Thanks to Wikipedia for the above definitions, unless otherwise mentioned. My thanks to all sources.)

I'm going to be honest I almost gave up on reading "The Martian". For about the first 60 pages, the book is highly technical, read boring. It's the tale of a lone man on Mars, Mark Watney. After the first 60 pages we are introduced to other characters. They bring life to what had been a highly dry book and increased the book's entertainment value considerably. While the technical aspects remained firmly in place, the story became much more interesting.

Mark Watney was left behind on Mars when the rest of his crew, on the Hermes, had to leave suddenly because of an intense wind storm. His crew thought Watney had been killed in the turmoil on Mars' surface. However he hadn't died and through fortuitous circumstances he survived and was able to make it back to the Hab. It's the best place he's going to find on Mars' surface to recover. Watney is clever and motivated to live. Very ingeniously he figures out a way to survive, well at least for the first 300 + pages. Along with his will to survive he's also has a very smart ass sense-of-humor. NASA might want to ignore him if they only didn't have the potential public relations disaster of one of their astronauts dying on Mars.

Watney's entertainment choices are limited, mostly he has 70's TV to watch and disco music to listen to. Very wisely he chooses The Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive" as his theme song. Perhaps "I Will Survive" would also be a good fit?

At first he can't even communicate with Earth, he's been reported dead and they take that at face value. There's no reason that they wouldn't, but again through his ingenuity he's able to reach Pathfinder and is able to make contact with Earth. Nasa, JPL and most of the Earth become very involved in saving his life. In fact saving his life becomes one of the Earth's top priorities.

However at this point Watney accidentally fries Pathfinder's "delicate electronics", which cuts off most of his communication with Earth. Satellites are able to see Watney, so he can still spell out messages to NASA by spelling words with rocks. They just can't send him messages, he's literally on his own.

The crew of the Hermes is able to help in his survival. They would be able to pick Watney up if he could reach Ares 4, using the MAV there and meeting up with the Hermes. The Hermes crew has 5 additional crewman besides Watney. They are Commander Lewis, who's in charge of the Hermes and by extension the Ares 3 mission. There's also Vogel, Beck, Martinez and Johannsen.

We find out that Johannsen and Beck are a couple, which works out well for the sleeping arrangements on the Hermes. It also gives Martinez the opportunity to make a joke about the "million mile high club" at their expense. The Hermes isn't exactly built for when a mission is extended from 396 to 898 days. The crew is having to make some adjustments in dealing with their slowly deteriorating space ship.

Along with the first 60ish pages of the book, I noticed later in the book how much the story slows down when the book focuses just on Watney and the very technical things he's doing to survive. As soon as the book shifts to the Hermes and their interactions with family members the story picks up.

Watney continues preparation and testing to leave the Hab, he's finally ready to leave. He's leaves to Schiaparelli basin, which is a 3200 kilometer journey from the Hab. It's not the smoothest of drives. His first goal is Mawrth Vallis, which millions of years ago was a river. The first 650 kilometers will be smooth, then the 700 kilometers of Mawrth Vallis will be smooth. But the rest of the 1,850 kilometer journey will be a challenge, especially when Watney "descends into Schiaparelli itself". Good thing Watney has experience with traveling across the surface of Mars, as he already had ventured to Pathfinder. (Most of this paragraph comes from the book itself.)

Watney finally reached Schiaparelli basin. However he ran into some difficulties when he reached it. Obviously NASA is worried about him. It's too bad they can't do any thing for him as they had no way to communicate with him. Watney outwits a dust storm though, which was something that could have killed him. You have to read the book to find out how. Also Watney decided not to go to the Mars Opportunity rover, although he could have found a way to communicate with Earth via the rover. He decided he was close enough to Ares 4, and its MAV, that visiting Opportunity wouldn't be worth the trip.

Obviously I'm not going to ruin the end of this book for you. I'll highlight the fact that Watney survived 18 months on his own on the inhospitable Mars surface. The credit rightfully goes to Watney, but also to NASA, JPL, the Chinese space agency, the Hermes crew and hundreds of individuals who went above and beyond their jobs to at least give Watney a fighting chance.

I wouldn't say this book is a classic, but I'd give it a solid B or B-. Weir should focus less on all the technical info and focus more on the actual story. All those technical details slowed down a book about the exciting adventure of a smart ass astronaut trying to survive on Mars and return home. Watney having a great sense-of-humor gave a needed jolt to the book.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's thumbs up for "Manhattan" or "MANH(A)TTAN"

Hello,

I've enjoyed the first 4 episodes of "Manhattan", what a great show. First of all the history of The Manhattan Project is incredibly fascinating. I have to admit how clueless I was about The Manhattan Project. I mean I knew some of the details, but I honestly thought it was named what it is because it was based in Manhattan. No, the project was based in the sandy Los Alamos, New Mexico. Honestly I'm not sure why it was named the Manhattan Project, other than to throw off the Germans with what they were doing.

Frank Winters, according to Wikipedia is based on Seth Neddermeyer, isn't the nicest person to work for. I like how determined he is and how he's fighting to find the solution to make the best atomic bomb possible. Writing the number of war death on the chalkboard keeps him focused and gives him urgency to finding a solution in creating the "gadget". Even though he has a massive uphill fight ahead of him. We see flashbacks of his own service in World War 1 and how that propels him hopefully to towards a solution.

I think it's remarkable how much Daniel London looks like J. Robert Oppenheimer when compared to the cover of Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin's Oppenheimer biography "American Prometheus".

The first season is scheduled to have 13 episodes and they've only shown 4 so far, I expect this show to have a lot of mysteries solved over the remaining 9 episodes. I loved the most recent episode where Neils Bohr was introduced. His speech about having lost the desire to figure out something that can kill so many people is so understandable. There's a new episode shown every Saturday night

Here's the extended trailer:

themusicaddict

Paramore on The Monumentour, August 13th, 2014 in Orem, Utah: 4 Guitarists, 1 Drummer and Miss Williams Rocked

Hello,

Again my thanks to setlist.fm for helping me fill in the blanks for Paramore's 14 song performance. Paramore's stage had two tiers. Two guitarists and the drummer were on the top tier. Miss Williams and the other two guitarists were on the lower tier. At the back of the lower tier was lights that spelled out various words and thoughts throughout the show.

2014 is Paramore's 10th anniversary, let's hope they have many more. Of the 3 bands that played that night, by far the best band was Paramore. When people ask me who I went to see in concert, I tell them Paramore. I don't tell them Fall Out Boy or the Monumentour.

Paramore expands to six members when it's touring. Of course Miss Hayley Williams on piano and stellar lead vocals. Besides Lolo, Hayley was the only woman that performed that night. Also there's Jeremy Davis on bass, Taylor York on lead and rhythm guitar, Jon Howard on guitars, Justin York on guitars and the drummer is Aaron Gillespie.

1) "Still Into You": Confetti came out of the sound control center- not sure what the official name of that area is- during this song.

2) "That's What You Get"
3) "For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic"

Here's the video for their first 3 songs (again the actual sound was much better than this video indicates):

Hayley Williams did her usual "We Are Paramore" spiel. Dedicated to that one person who might not know who Paramore is.

4) "Ignorance": From the Bunbury Fest, including Hayley saying the "We Are Paramore" intro:

5) "Pressure"
6) "Decode"
7) "The Only Exception" (Live in Hartford, Ct.):

8) "Last Hope"
9) "Brick By Boring Brick"
10) "Misery Business" About the first 3 minutes of this song was one of the highlights of the night. Then they decided to slow it down as Hayley talked and found an audience member to sing the bridge of this song. As you can see below it completely killed the momentum they had working in their favor.

11) "Let The Flames Begin"
12) "Part 2" These two songs were Paramore's lowlight of the night. Thanks to setlist.fm for alerting me to the fact that these were actually two different songs. To my ears they'd taken the most boring song in their repertoire and stretched it out for 10 damn long minutes. This self indulgent display sucked energy out of their set. After that 10 minute slowdown, the concert didn't reach it's previous peak.

13) "Proof" in Paraguay:

14) "Ain't It Fun" the band put their stage to work. The words "Don't go crying to your mama because your all alone in the real world" repeated a few times.

No encore, "CrushCrushCrush" would have been perfect. Other than a couple of slow points of the concert mentioned above, this was a great performance. I suggest Paramore is one of our best current rock bands. Long live Paramore!

themusicaddict

The Monumenutour August 13th, 2014 at UCCU Center in Orem, Utah Review of Fall Out Boy's Performance

Hello,

The three acts that are touring together in the Monumentour are New Politics, Paramore and Fall Out Boy. I wrote about New Politics' set in my previous blog. Today I'll be writing about Fall Out Boy, who is the headliner. Then in the next couple of days I'll be writing about Paramore, although they performed second on the night, by far they were the best band on the night.

After Paramore played, my daughter turned to me and said she felt bad for Fall Out Boy as they would have to live up to Paramore's set. I didn't think they'd be able to and they didn't even come close. One of Fall Out Boy's biggest problems is that so many of their songs sound alike. Sadly a fate shared by New Politics and Paramore to a lesser degree. This becomes really noticeable when the songs are played back to back to back. Their most recent CD "Save Rock and Roll" is by far their best CD, I'd hate to have seen this band without those songs in their arsenal.

I attended the concert, but I'm not terribly familiar with all of Fall Out Boy's songs, honestly I wouldn't have gone to see them without Paramore being there. Thanks to setlist.fm for helping to fill in the blanks.

Fall Out Boy is made up of singer and guitarist Patrick Stump, whose guitar seems to serve the same purpose as Linus's blanket. But he's got a great voice and sounds great live. The most famous member of the band is bassist Pete Wentz. Since he's the best known, for the longest time I thought he was also the lead singer. Joe Trohman plays guitars and provides backing vocals. In charge of the durms and percussion is Andy Hurley.

Fall Out Boy took the stage about 10:00 and started with a spoken word introduction, which lead into

1) "The Phoenix", one of the best songs off their current CD, "Save Rock and Roll". (Although you can't tell from the video, the sound was great on this night.)

2) "The Take Over, The Breaks Over", one of the first of many nearly indistinguishable Fall Out Boy songs.
3) "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me"" see above
4) "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race" This song stands out a bit, but that's mostly due to it's profane chorus.
5) "Alone Together", one of their songs that's closer to being a ballad.
6) "Death Valley"
7) "Sugar, We're Going Down"
8) "Miss Missing You"

Three drummers came on stage and played together. A spoken word track played over saying them saying "rhythm section". It was their way to sneak Pete Wentz and another guitarist back to the area where they control the lights etc on stage. Wentz introduced:

9) "Dance, Dance", another one of the few stand out FOB songs.
10) "Young Volcanoes" I could swear they played this song, but it's not listed on set lists from around the same time. Again I don't know their music well enough to know for sure as many of their songs sound the same to me.

11) "Just One Yesterday" (with Lolo)
12) "Grand Theft Autumn/ Where Is Your Boy"
13) "We Are The Champions" A song dedicated to the parents who brought their kids to the concert. This was a nice break from the sameness of their songs.

14) "Save Rock and Roll", although the name of the current album they are touring behind, this is probably the worst song on the CD.
15) "I Don't Care"- yet another sound alike song
16) "My Songs Know What You Did"- probably Fall Out Boy's highlight of the night:

Encore

17) "Thanks fr the Mmrs"
18) "Saturday"- wow they really picked this sound alike song as their final song of the night? This was completely indistinguishable from so many other Fall Out Boy songs they played on the night.

I wished they would have played "Where Did The Party Go?".

As you can tell I wasn't real impressed. They are fine musicians and Patrick Stump can definitely sing. I loved the close ups of their main drummer. He's the ultimate Mr. Cool, it seemed nothing was going to bother him. But for a band that's big enough to headline a 3 act concert tour, it's surprising how few great songs they have. Pete Wentz's fortune cookies slogans got a little tiresome. My daughter noted that Stump hardly spoke. I would give them a C.

themusicaddict

The Momumentour Invades Orem, Utah, Has The UCCU Center Never Hosted A Concert Before?

Hello,

On Wednesday, August 13th, 2014 my daughter and I went to the Momentour in Orem, Utah. The concert was at the UCCU center, a place I've never seen a concert before. Today's blog is going to be about how the UCCU Center has a lot of things to work on to be a better host. I'll also write about opening act New Politics. First of all I'd like to thank setlist.fm for helping me to fill in many of the blanks on the set lists. Upcoming blogs: probably sometime this weekend I'll publish my review of Fall Out Boy. Although they were the headliner, they shouldn't have been. Sometime about Monday I'll be posting my review of Paramore's portion of the concert. Not only should they have been the headliner, but by far the best band of the night.

Now on to the worthiness of the UCCU Center ever hosting a concert again, I hope they don't unless they fix several things. The two hour round trip to get there is one of the least of my concerns. Doors were suppose to open at 6:00, we were there and in line about 6:30. I thought we'd get in a bit before the show and hang out a bit. Maybe check out the merchandise, but no we had to wait in a long line. We didn't get into the venue until a bit after 7:00. The line stretched out a lot more by the time it started moving. That was one of the many times I thought to myself have they never hosted a concert before?

We got in finally and located our seats quick enough. However the building was a sauna throughout the entire show. It was such a relief to get outside in the cool air once the concert ended. I only saw two concession stands open, although they had other concession stands that weren't open. Both concessions stands had long lines. They did have drinking fountains thankfully, again though not enough. The UCCU center also had vending machines, but for some reason they were turned off. Huh? We had to stop on the way home and get something to drink. I was so thirsty I couldn't wait for FOB to end their show. I wasn't going to leave the concert early.

After the concert the sprinklers were on and it took forever to get out of the parking lot. Again had they never hosted a concert before?

Good things about a concert at the UCCU Center, very close to the freeway! The sound started out sludgy for about New Politics' first 4 songs, but once they figured it out the sound was amazing. I give them a pass for the sludgy sound, they obviously got it figured out. The rest of the night the sound was punchy and great. Truly that made the concert better.

I didn't have a watch so all times mentioned are estimates, New Politics took the stage about 7:15. The band is made up of David Boyd, vocals and dancing, Soren Hansen, guitars and Louis Vecchio on drums and percussion.

I can't guarantee this set list is 100% correct yet, waiting on setlist.fm to publish:

1) "Give Me Hope"
2) "Dignity"
3) "Fall Into These Arms" While waiting for "technical difficulties" to be resolved:

Once the technical difficulties were resolved, the band played "Fall Into These Arms" from the beginning.

4) "Just Like Me"
5) "Tonight You're Perfect": (Just about 35 seconds):

6?) Somewhere in here they also did a cover of Panic At The Disco's "Miss Jackson",  a song I'm not familiar with:

7) "Harlem"
8) "Yeah Yeah Yeah"

Sadly New Politics didn't sing my favorite song of theirs, "Goodbye Copenhagen" (I so wanted to sing the line "I feel like breaking out" with them.):

Overall New Politics was good, they have a lot of great songs. Although they only played about a half-hour they had a bit too much filler in their show. It makes me wonder what they are going to do when they return to Salt Lake to headline their own show in November. But overall I'd give them a B. However like the other two bands on the bill, they'd do better if they expanded their sound.

themusicaddict

Robin WIlliams: An Appreciation

Hello,

I have no inside knowledge about depression in general or Williams condition specifically, I certainly don't claim to be an expert. This blog is more about my appreciation for all the humor and entertainment Williams brought to me personally. It's my hope that such a huge loss won't be for naught, hopefully those who need the help will be brave enough to reach out their hand. Please let's not ignore the extended hand. My best wishes to his family and friends.

Usually when a celebrity dies, it's not that big of deal to me. It's not like I knew them, was dependent on them in any way etc. But for some reason with Robin Williams dying on Monday, it's a much bigger deal to me. Especially since he committed suicide by hanging himself. That would be such a rough way to go, which shows how much his depression had sunk his claws into him. The reason why he killed himself is incredibly sad to me, depression can't be categorized. It's awful in every way possible. To me the brutal irony is a man that had brought so much entertainment and humor to the world couldn't find a good enough reason to continue living. Robin, I hope you find the peace you so desperately craved. R.I.P. and thanks for all the great memories.

I was so moved by the death that I felt this strong urge to watch a Robin Williams movie, preferring to see one of his movies I haven't ever seen. Eventually the two choices were "The Best of Times" and "Man of the Year". I went with "The Best of Times", honestly it's only a so so movie. Williams normal manic zaniness isn't on display in this movie. In fact in "The Best of Times", he's very much a character actor. He also has no business in a football uniform, but overall we emphasize with his every man character.

My top 5 Williams movies:

1) "The Fisher King", Terry Gilliam's masterpiece.
2) "Dead Poet's Society", an incredible movie about someone that colors outside of the lines and the benefits his students get out of that.
3) "Good Will Hunting", an acting Tour de Force by Williams. His therapist role is a master class in acting. Williams is very vulnerable and at his best.
4) "Awakenings", great acting by both Williams and Robert DeNiro.
5) "Good Morning Vietnam"- both the vulnerable and manic Williams all in one character.

I wanted to put together some clips that catches some of Williams highlights in honor to how great of an entertainer he was.

"Good Morning Vietnam":

"Patch Adams":

In light of what happened this year with both Williams and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, this scene takes on additional sadness:

The Robin Williams many of us think of first:

"The Fisher King", The Red Knight:

"Dead Poet's Society":

"Good Will Hunting", a powerhouse performance by both Williams and Matt Damon (explicit language):

Again very explicit, but worth it:

"Awakenings":

Robin Williams accepting a Golden Globe:

When I think of Robin Williams first I usually think of his funny, manic performances that usually made me laugh. Although I missed a lot of his rapid fire jokes, as in the video above. While working on this blog, I found myself drawn to his more dramatic scenes. That end scene of "Dead Poet's Society" is amazing, now that's the way to end a movie.

themusicaddict

The Best of themusicaddict's iPod Playlist: The Rockers

Hello,

Some of the best rockers that power my morning walks on my iPod.

Tomorrow night my daughter and I will be rocking out to this great band. Paramore's "Born For This":

Another band I'll be seeing tomorrow night, the Momentour's opening act New Politics. "Goodbye Copenhagen", explicit lyrics:

Three Days Grace "Break":

Depeche Mode's "A Pain That I'm Used To":

Motley Crue's "Saints of Los Angeles":

Iron Maiden's "Flight of Icarus":

A great song to exercise too, as well as plenty of other things I'm sure. Rammstein's "Du Hast":

Chromeo's "Night By Night", a song about the complexities of love and the interplay between the two genders:

Set It Off's "Nightmare":

Black Eyed Peas "Rock That Body":

What ever happened to Aqua? They released the CD "Aquarium" which featured "Barbie Girl". It was full of a bunch of other delectable pop nuggets. "Lollipop (Candyman)":

Here's another delectable nugget, but of the rock kind. Halestorm's "I Miss The Misery":

Stone Temple Pilot's "Wicked Garden":

Green Day's "Extraordinary Girl" (paired with "500 Days of Summer"):

However sometimes the extraordinary girl isn't meant to be, sometimes she turns into "Whatsername":

Sugarcult's "Riot":

themusicaddict

The Best of themusicaddict's iPod Playlist: The More Mellow Songs

Hello,

Just some of the mellower songs from my iPod, enjoy.

The crystal clear vocals of the amazing Steve Perry on "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin" (Live version):

Simply Red's amazing "Holding Back The Years" (Live version):

The very bittersweet song about the enduring nature of relationships, even ones that have ended. Mark Chesnutt's "I Just Wanted You To Know":

It's hard to spell her name, but she has some amazing songs. Sadly this is the best video I could find for this song. Chantal Kreviazuk's "Miss April":

Dido's "Hunter":

John Parr's "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)":

Styx's " The Best Of Times" (Extended live version) : One of my favorite lyrics ever: "The best of times are when I'm alone with you":

Dire Straits "Romeo and Juliet":

Tears For Fears' "Mother's Talk":

Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under The Bridge":

Don Henley's "Boys of Summer":

Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around":

Jake Owen's "Alone With You":

Stan Ridgway's "Camouflage":

Billy Ocean's "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car":

The Smiths' "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out":



Icehouse's "Electric Blue":



Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Southern Cross" (Live):

themusicaddict

One Week From Today The Momentour Hits Utah: Paramore, Fall Out Boy and New Politics

Hello,

One week from today my daughter and I will go and see the Momentour in Orem, Utah. I've been looking forward to this concert for the last few months. It looks to be a night of about 3 hours of music! Below is the order I hope the bands would appear. However it seems Paramore is the second band and Fall Out Boy closes out the night. Yes, I'll be posting a review about a week from tomorrow.

First up on August 13th will be New Politics. I did find video of one of their full performances, but the sound was awful. In fact poor sound seemed to run through all their performances on Youtube. This is the best live video I could find, it appears "Goodbye Copenhagen" is the first song of their set:

A full performance of Fall Out Boy on the Momentour, again the sound isn't the greatest:

The sound is a bit better on this video, it's much clearer the first song is "The Phoenix". That's one of my favorite songs on their most recent CD. This video also has the setlist for this concert.

Sadly not the final act of the night, but they should still be very fun to see. I'm sorry but Paramore has more and better songs than Fall Out Boy. Plus Hayley Williams is a hell of singer, one of the best voices I've ever heard live. Paramore:

Here's Paramore performing on the Momentour, with Miss Williams and her interesting wardrobe:

One more Paramore concert:

themusicaddict

It's The Annual Drinking of the Kool Aid by Delusional Cowboys Fans! 2014 Edition

Hello,

The blog is written by a formerly hard core Cowboys fan, but not one that will support the Jones family no matter what it does. In fact I wish the NFL could figure out a way to force the Jones family to sell the Cowboys.

To those of you who will say but the Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls with Jones as owner, I say to you how long ago was that? And other than Jones writing the checks and hiring Jimmy Johnson did he have anything else to do with it? No, not a damn thing. Well I guess that's not true, he also stayed out of the way. That was before Jones ego got in the way of Cowboys success. No the reason the Cowboys won those Super Bowls was because of Jimmy Johnson's genius and the Hershel Walker trade. (Johnson and Bill Parcells are the only two good head coaches that Jones has ever hired, the rest have been unmitigated disasters.)

Growing up I was Cowboys fan and I couldn't think of any thing that would dissuade me from being a die hard Cowboys fan. Well it seems there is something so bad that makes it very difficult to be a Cowboys fan. It's called the Jerry Jones ownership. I don't know that he's the worst owner ever, but he definitely is one of the worst all-time owners ever.

I still can't believe that anyone would defend Jones or the moves the Cowboys have made the last several years, but yes such delusional people still exist! I see people commenting if the Cowboys reach the Top 20 in defense they'll go to the playoffs. To those people I say maybe you should be more realistic and hope for a Top 30, of 32 teams, defense. That would be a big upgrade over last season.

One sign of delusional thinking going on at Valley Ranch: A week ago the Cowboys sent out tickets to it's season tickets holders. Along with the regular season tickets included playoff tickets. Again yet another delusional and idiotic move made by Jerry Jones. The Cowboys have about 0.0000001 % chance of reaching the playoffs this year. The Cowboys have only gone to the playoffs once in the last six seasons.

The Cowboys offense will be fine, in fact it could be in the NFL's Top Ten at the end of the season. Although I do have some concerns about the offense. How much longer is Tony Romo going to last? He's been tough and played through some injuries, but he's 34 and coming off back surgeries in the last two years. Is he one big hit away from no longer able to play? A lot of things has to go right for him to survive this season. Of course Jones in his infinite stupidity signed Romo to an extension a couple of years ago. So Romo is owed $55 million over the next 3 years even if he NEVER PLAYS AGAIN! His cap hit will be about $27 million next season of what will be about a $65 million team salary cap.

And a healthy Romo is the best case scenario for the Cowboys at quarterback. The worst case scenario is if Tony Romo gets injured, that means the next man up will be 31 year old Brandon Weeden. The man who played minor league baseball for many years returned to play football at the college level. Once he finished out his eligibility, he was drafted by the Browns. He did a grand total of nothing there and the Cowboys picked him up in the off season. When a team doesn't draft a quarterback of the future, they have to take any scrub they can find on the scrap heap. That's why Weeden is a Cowboy.

If Weeden has to play an extended time for the Cowboys, then the season will be officially over. Some people say that the Cowboys have a better offensive line than the Browns and that is true. In fact, I'm pretty sure the offensive line will be the best unit for the Cowboys this season and it might not even be close. Yes, that will help Weeden. He was also teammates with Dez Bryant in college, they might have a head start because of that. While that provides a bit of comfort, the fact is he's still Brandon Weeden.

The other two things about the offense that scares me is the maturity level of Dez Bryant. After talking trash all day at practice he got in a fight after J.J. Wilcox laid out Bryant with a cheap hit. The two then got into a fight. Now is a fight in practice the worst thing in the world? No, I like the passion. But why was Bryant talking throughout the practice? Is that how he gets fired up? What does it accomplish?

The last thing about the offense that scares me is the injury prone DeMarco Murray. Dallas is putting a lot of hope in the former Pro Bowler to remain healthy the whole season. He hasn't made it through a season without being injured once since he has been a Cowboy. Do you think this will be the year where he'll remain healthy the whole season? Neither do I.

I won't even get into the tragedy known as Jason Garrett being the head coach or Jones continual lack of knowledge in how to be a GM. But I will touch on that defense. The defense, which was the 3rd all-time worst defense last season is expected to be better this season. The common refrain being how can they be any worse? Well let's look who they lost first, DeMarcus Ware is now in Denver. He should be healthier and a lot more motivated than he was last season. In fact because of him, I'll be cheering for the Broncos to win the Super Bowl if the 49ers don't win. Yes, that's right I find myself cheering against the Cowboys now. I want things to get so bad that the Jones family sells. The Dallas Cowboys desperately need new ownership.

The Cowboys also lost Jason Hatcher to the Redskins in free agency. Washington overpaid for Hatcher. Although Hatcher was the Cowboys leading sacker last season, he wanted too much money after a career year. The Cowboys also lost Sean Lee for the season due to his annual injury. (Both Lee and Murray were injury prone in college, but the Cowboys still drafter both. This is one thing that Jerruh likes to do, if these players pan out he thinks it will make him look like a genius. But most of the time it confirms his poor decision making skills.) It's time to give up on him Dallas. Let's see who else is there, oh yeahAnthony Spencer. Spencer played part of one game last year before missing the rest of the season due to injury. He's recovering from micro fracture surgery and quite likely will miss at least the first 6 games of the season.

Also Rookie DeMarcus Lawrence, expected to play a big part for the Cowboys this season, will miss at least a few weeks of the season. The Cowboys like to spin everything so don't rely on them to tell you the truth. I bet he will miss at least 3 weeks of the season if everything goes well. Don't forget Rolondo McClain, he's been missing time due to injuries. With him trying to get motivation and battling injuries what is the best case scenario for him? Their big free agency pick up, Henry Melton, is coming off an ACL injury. Yet another defensive question mark.

Brandon Carr hasn't been with the team in training camp due to the death of his mother. There's a lot of pressure on him to justify his $50 million contract this year, he hasn't as of yet. He was repeatedly burned by Calvin Johnson in the Cowboys game against the Lions last season. Also the oft injured Morris Claiborne is injured once again. After the Cowboys traded two players for him in the NFL Draft a couple of years ago he's been close to a bust. I can't remember but he missed about 6 or 7 games last season. Delusional Cowboys fans are expecting these two to have a break out year. Please. Orlando Scandrick has been better than expected, or the teams cornerbacks might be the worst in the NFL.

The Cowboys even thinking about bringing Josh Brent back just shows the nadir the once greatest NFL franchise has sunk to. Due to Jones' poor decision making, they are now desperate for anyone that can help this defense. It doesn't matter that Brent killed his best friend when driving drunk.

The Cowboys open the season against the very motivated 49ers in Game 1 of the regular season, I expect the 49ers to roll. In fact I think that at best the Cowboys finish at 7-9 this season and miss the playoffs for the 5th straight year. Garrett and defensive co-ordinator Rod Marinelli will be the sacrificial lambs, but the real problem will remain as owner and GM of the Cowboys.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict Kinda, Sorta Recommends "Star Trek: Enterprise" on Netflix

Hello,

I'm enjoying exploring Netflix and seeing what they have available. They don't have as many shows as I would have guessed, but they do have a few hidden nuggets. One of those nuggets is "Star Trek: Enterprise".

I've enjoyed most of the previous Star Trek series, "Enterprise" is the 5th Star Trek series. I loved the original series of the late 60s. The series that starred Leonard Nimoy as Spock and William Shatner as Captain Kirk was always good for a few laughs. The bickering between Dr. McCoy and Spock was usually humorous although Spock didn't realize or care they were bickering most of the time. I always enjoy Sci Fi shows that don't take themselves seriously. The original series lasted 3 episodes.

The next series was "Star Trek: The Next Generation", this might be the best of the bunch. It featured an outstanding cast. Who's cooler: Patrrick Stewart or the Starship captain he plays, Jean-Luc Picard? A rare instance where the actor and role fit perfectly. There's also Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker. Or as Captain Picard called him so many times, No. 1. Other great cast members: Michael Dorn as Worf, Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, Brent Spiner as Data and LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge. Of course La Forge was helped by technology to be able to see. This show lasted 7 seasons.

Then somehow "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" lasted 7 seasons and I have no clue why. This was probably the most disappointing of all the "Trek"series. In a word, boring. The only character that I remember very well is Armin Shimerman as Quark. According to Wikipedia, Worf showed up for Seasons 4 to 7. However I had stopped watching the show by then. Having most of the action happening in the same location didn't work out very well for entertainment value.

The fourth "Trek" series bounced back somewhat in quality. This series is titled "Star Trek: Voyager" and it also lasted 7 seasons. Off the top of my head I remember two characters. First up is the very strong and capable first woman captain Kathyrn Janeway. She's played by Kate Mulgrew, who now is doing the cooking on "Orange Is The New Black".

And of course who can forget Seven of Nine:



Seven of Nine is probably the most gorgeous "Star Trek" female crewman ever:

The fifth and final "Star Trek" series so far is "Enterprise", which was on the air from 2001-2005. I can't remember the exact circumstances, but I didn't see this series when it was originally on the air. The show is set around 2150, roughly 100 years before the original series.

I've seen the first 6 episodes of the first season so far. It's much better than "Deep Space Nine", but most things are. It shares the self mocking humor of the original series along with the era of mankind's first long distance space exploration. In other words it's trying to plow new ground, this is their first real experience with the Klingons.

Through six episodes the character that stands out the most is Captain Archer, played by Scott Bakula. Again a captain that isn't so deadly serious, he also is very friendly to all that the crew meets. I'm glad the Klingons are integrated early into this series. The warrior race is one of the most interesting groups in the entire "Star Trek" canon.

Also vying for the most gorgeous female crewman is Jolene Blalock, as T'Pol. For obvious reasons she's cast in as many skin tight outfits as possible:

My apologies ladies for only posting pictures of beautiful women, I'd just rather look at them over men.

Anyway besides those two characters, the third and last stand out character is John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox. Phlox is a Denobulan and the crew's doctor. His medical skills are called on many times during the first six episodes of this show, including when Trip Tucker gets pregnant. Speaking of Tucker, he's suppose to be a very important character in this show. But the actor, Connor Trinneer, that plays him is very bland. I'm not surprised I haven't seen Trinneer in any other TV shows. To me he seems like a very poor imitation of Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the original series.

This fifth "Trek" series did something interesting with the theme song. Instead of an instrumental theme, they went with "Where My Heart Will Take Me". A song written by Dianne Warren and sung by Russell Watson (who?). A decent song, although it would have been much more appropriate for an 80's or 80's themed show. This slice of cheese would fit right in with Heart and Kenny Loggins back in the day.

Overall "Star Trek: Enterprise" is a perfectly decent show. It's one of those shows to watch when you want some entertainment, but don't want to think too much.

themusicaddict

Ebola Claws Back: I'm Grateful Every Day I Live in America

Hello,

Just what is ebola? "Ebola virus disease (EVD) or Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is the human disease caused by the Ebola virus. Symptoms typically start two days to three weeks after contracting the virus, with a fever, sore throat, muscle pains, and headaches. Typically nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea follow, along with decreased functioning of the liver and kidneys. At this point, some people begin to have problems with bleeding." (Thanks to wikipedia.org. The original source is the World Health Organization Fact Sheet March, 2014.)

How does one get the Ebola disease? "The disease may be acquired upon contact with blood or bodily fluids of an infected animal (commonly monkeys or fruit bats). It is not naturally transmitted through the air.^[2] Fruit bats are believed to carry and spread the virus without being affected. Once human infection occurs, the disease may spread between people as well. Male survivors may be able to transmit the disease via semen for nearly two months."

How to prevent Ebola: "Prevention includes decreasing the spread of disease from infected monkeys and pigs to humans. This may be done by checking such animals for infection and killing and properly disposing of the bodies if the disease is discovered. Properly cooking meat and wearing protective clothing when handling meat may also be helpful, as is wearing protective clothing and washing hands when around a person with the disease. Samples of bodily fluids and tissues from people with the disease should be handled with special caution.^[1]"

Vaccines for Ebola: None currently available for humans, although scientists and doctors are working on it.

Again thanks to the Wikipedia page about the Ebola virus for all the above information. My first exposure to Ebola, ahem, was Richard Preston's excellent book "The Hot Zone". A true life story written to be as intense and as well as the best fiction. It reads like a Michael Crichton novel, at least one of his mid career novels. It's easily one of the best books I've ever read. Appropriately enough Stephen King blurbed the book when it came out. But this book is scarier than almost any of King's fiction because Ebola is something that can happen.

I remember reading this book somewhere in the mid 90's and it absolutely scaring the crap out of me. This disease that came out of Africa had been just lying in wait for mankind. Some of the scariest parts of the book were the actual descriptions of what the disease can do it's human hosts. It's not pretty, is very painful and miserable. The disease also kills a high percentage of those that get it. I wasn't able to find an exact mortality rate, but it's at least 50%.

At the end of the book Preston warns that Ebola will be back.

Indeed in February, 2014 Ebola came back, when it appeared in Guinea. (It since has appeared also in Sierra Leone and Liberia.) There have been many cases reported and hundreds of deaths so far from this outbreak. "On July 31 2014, WHO reports the death toll has reached 826 from 1440 cases." (Thanks again to the Wikipedia Ebola page and abcnews.com.)

An American medical provider, Kent Brantly, was exposed while caring for people in the infected region of Liberia. Brantly has been given an experimental serum and his condition is "improving". (Thanks to abcnews.com.) However the doctor Brantly was with at the time, Nancy Writebol, hasn't seemed to have come down with Ebola. I know there are so many factors that can't be controlled for, but I think this would be a good chance to compare Brantly and Writebol's situation. Let's see if it can be figured out about why Brantly has Ebola but Writebol doesn't. Writebol is being treated, but doesn't seem to be suffering at the same level as Brantly.

Every time I see a story like this, I'm again so grateful that I live in the greatest country in the world, the United States of America. I'm sure Brantly feels the same way as he's being cared for here in the USA. He currently is at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Although Ebola has found it's way into America an outbreak is highly unlikely.

themusicaddict