Hello,
Two weeks ago today the King of Pop passed away. Two days ago was his memorial at the Staples Center. Apparantally that cost 1.4 million dollars and the city of L.A. is wanting some of that money back. 31 million people watched the Jackson Memorial on TV with more people on-line. Some people estimate that the online audience was equal to the TV audience.
My love of "Mad Men" continues to grow. Last night I watched Season 1, Episode's 10 to 12. There's one more episode left for that season, but it was too late to watch it last night. I'll watch it shortly and then I'd like to watch some of the episodes from Season Two again. I'm hoping that will help me fill in all the blanks for this great show. By the way the DVD of Season 2 of "Mad Men" will be out July 14th.
I'm not a big internet radio listener but there are some good internet radio stations. One of them is Pandora. Pandora was able to make a long-term deal and will be around for many years to come. Not only that but Pandora continues to be a free service as long as you listen to 40 hours or less a month. If you hit 40 hours you will be given an option to go unlimited for that month for 99C. That is a very good deal. There are no commericals or lame djs. You can also rate songs that you like and hate and Pandora will match up future song selections to your taste. Internet radio is so much better than terrestial radio.
Finally songs rockin' my iPod. I'm still listening to a lot of Michael Jackson songs so a lot of these songs are Jackson songs. The man was an incredible song writer and performer. Also he and his people were very good at picking other people's songs for him to sing. 1) "Hunter"- Dido 2) "Wanna Be Startin' Something"- MJ 3) "They Don't Care About Us"- MJ 4)"In The Closet"- MJ 5) "Black or White"- MJ
6) "Who Is It?"-"Thriller"- MJ 8) "Beat It"- MJ 9) "Sad Songs"- The Pendletons 10) "Crazy On You"- Carly Smithson from "American Idol" Season 7 11) "Common People"- William Shatner (yes that William Shatner) and Ben Folds 12) "Like A Virgin"- Madonna 13) "Copacabana"- Barry Manilow 14) "Never Again"- Nickleback 15) "White Wedding"- Billy Idol 16 & 17) "Modern Swinger" and "Busy Signals"- The Pink Spiders 18) "Camisado"- Panic At The Disco 19) "Vacation"- The Go Gos
Unless something dramatic happens I probably won't be back until Sunday. Have a great weekend, themusicaddict
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Michael Jackson Memorial
Hello,
The Michael Jackson Memorial was held yesterday in Los Angeles at the Staples Center. The ceremony was 177 minutes long. Some of the highlights included Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz singing "I'll Be There". This was one of her first big songs, its from her "Unplugged" CD. They were the original pair who sang this song on "Unplugged". An amazing performance by her and Lorenz.
An unconfirmed rumor that Stevie Wonder wrote the song he sang just for the Jackson Memorial. The song is "I'd Never Dreamed You'd Leave Me In Summer". Jennifer Hudson sang "Will You Be There/ Hold Me". She's looking beautiful with her pregnancy bump. Usher sang a Michael Jackson song "Gone Too Soon". Michael Jackson obviously sang this song with someone else in mind. The song went full circle when Usher sang it about him. Michael Jackson didn't write this song, instead it was written by Larry Grossman. (Although that sounds like a fake name.)
There were speeches made by Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Brooke Shields. The highlight of those speeches was Magic Johnson's both funny and poignant remembrances of Michael Jackson. He related a funny story about Micheal Jackson and his love of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Magic Johnson talked about the people who are left behind who can take care of Michael's three kids. He mentioned everyone but Michael's father. I think that was an intentional omission. Magic was friends with one of Michael's older brothers for 30 years now. Brooke Shields' speech was a low light, her speech seemed to more about Brooke Shields than anything else.
Overall it seemed to be a very moving ceremony. Michael Jackson left an impact on many people with his great music. The man is a musical genius and his influence will be felt for at least many decades to come.
Other Michael Jackson news: many people are trying to cash in on his death. Of the biographies written about MJ, the most popular one is Randy Taroborelli's "The Magic and the Madness". This book is selling anywhere between $5 and $146.20 on ebay.com. These prices are for old editions of this book. It was originally released in the mid-80's. Taroborelli has updated it a few more times over the years. However let me warn you again these are all dated editions of this book. Also these same greedy people have the audacity to charge for shipping in addition to the exorbitant prices.
I have a better solution. Taroborelli has updated this book yet again and it's available for pre-order on amazon.com for only $10.25 plus shipping. There's no doubt about this being the newest edition as the book has been renamed "The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story 1958-2009." You can pre-order this book at amazon.com and it will be released on August 5th. It's only now days that a book can be added to, updated and released to the public in such a short amount of time.
Also a whole bunch of magazines new issues are devoting many pages to Michael Jackson. Some people on ebay.com have apparently bought up large amounts of these copies and now are selling them for a premium price. A few ebay.com buyers are claiming these commemorative copies are "sold out". Do not fall for this trick. I was at a local grocery store and Barnes and Noble yesterday and they both have plenty of copies available of these magazines. I expect Barnes and Noble will also extend the sales dates of these magazines.
I've read about the first 50 pages of Micheal Jackson's autobiography "Moon Walk". Jackson lightly touches on his abusive father. His father Joe was a control freak and pushed his kids at a young age to be stars. Michael Jackson wasn't able to be a kid, he started performing at age 5. The Jacksons obviously had a father who was living his life through them. I also have "The Magic and the Madness" on hold at my local library. It's the 1991 edition. Of all the Jackson biographies, that is the one I'm most interested in reading.
Two non-Michael Jackson notes. Paramore's new CD is now available for pre-order at the iTunes music store. (BTW Happy Birthday to the Apple Apps store, it's now one year old.) There are two editions available. The first version is $9.99 and the second version is $14.99. Both versions of this will CD will be available on September 29th. You can hear the first single from the new album now at spin.com. The song is titled "Ignorance" and it rocks. From the opening few notes, there's no doubt this is a Paramore song.
Also I was watching "Mad Men" Season 1 last night. The team from Sterling Cooper just was able to get a new account. To celebrate they went to a bar. The songs were that late 50's sound. Then someone played Chubby Checker's "The Twist" and that brought the crowd to the dance floor. I know this is fictional but I can see this actually happening when rock and roll was introduced. Rock and Roll brought an attitude, a swagger, a whole new kind of music and a lot of energy. Not only that but "The Twist" is still an amazing song.
I also loved the final scene of Season 1, Episode 9 with Betty Draper shooting at the mean neighbor's precious pigeons. Nobody is going to call Betty Draper weak again. That's a very funny scene.
themusicaddict
The Michael Jackson Memorial was held yesterday in Los Angeles at the Staples Center. The ceremony was 177 minutes long. Some of the highlights included Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz singing "I'll Be There". This was one of her first big songs, its from her "Unplugged" CD. They were the original pair who sang this song on "Unplugged". An amazing performance by her and Lorenz.
An unconfirmed rumor that Stevie Wonder wrote the song he sang just for the Jackson Memorial. The song is "I'd Never Dreamed You'd Leave Me In Summer". Jennifer Hudson sang "Will You Be There/ Hold Me". She's looking beautiful with her pregnancy bump. Usher sang a Michael Jackson song "Gone Too Soon". Michael Jackson obviously sang this song with someone else in mind. The song went full circle when Usher sang it about him. Michael Jackson didn't write this song, instead it was written by Larry Grossman. (Although that sounds like a fake name.)
There were speeches made by Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Brooke Shields. The highlight of those speeches was Magic Johnson's both funny and poignant remembrances of Michael Jackson. He related a funny story about Micheal Jackson and his love of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Magic Johnson talked about the people who are left behind who can take care of Michael's three kids. He mentioned everyone but Michael's father. I think that was an intentional omission. Magic was friends with one of Michael's older brothers for 30 years now. Brooke Shields' speech was a low light, her speech seemed to more about Brooke Shields than anything else.
Overall it seemed to be a very moving ceremony. Michael Jackson left an impact on many people with his great music. The man is a musical genius and his influence will be felt for at least many decades to come.
Other Michael Jackson news: many people are trying to cash in on his death. Of the biographies written about MJ, the most popular one is Randy Taroborelli's "The Magic and the Madness". This book is selling anywhere between $5 and $146.20 on ebay.com. These prices are for old editions of this book. It was originally released in the mid-80's. Taroborelli has updated it a few more times over the years. However let me warn you again these are all dated editions of this book. Also these same greedy people have the audacity to charge for shipping in addition to the exorbitant prices.
I have a better solution. Taroborelli has updated this book yet again and it's available for pre-order on amazon.com for only $10.25 plus shipping. There's no doubt about this being the newest edition as the book has been renamed "The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story 1958-2009." You can pre-order this book at amazon.com and it will be released on August 5th. It's only now days that a book can be added to, updated and released to the public in such a short amount of time.
Also a whole bunch of magazines new issues are devoting many pages to Michael Jackson. Some people on ebay.com have apparently bought up large amounts of these copies and now are selling them for a premium price. A few ebay.com buyers are claiming these commemorative copies are "sold out". Do not fall for this trick. I was at a local grocery store and Barnes and Noble yesterday and they both have plenty of copies available of these magazines. I expect Barnes and Noble will also extend the sales dates of these magazines.
I've read about the first 50 pages of Micheal Jackson's autobiography "Moon Walk". Jackson lightly touches on his abusive father. His father Joe was a control freak and pushed his kids at a young age to be stars. Michael Jackson wasn't able to be a kid, he started performing at age 5. The Jacksons obviously had a father who was living his life through them. I also have "The Magic and the Madness" on hold at my local library. It's the 1991 edition. Of all the Jackson biographies, that is the one I'm most interested in reading.
Two non-Michael Jackson notes. Paramore's new CD is now available for pre-order at the iTunes music store. (BTW Happy Birthday to the Apple Apps store, it's now one year old.) There are two editions available. The first version is $9.99 and the second version is $14.99. Both versions of this will CD will be available on September 29th. You can hear the first single from the new album now at spin.com. The song is titled "Ignorance" and it rocks. From the opening few notes, there's no doubt this is a Paramore song.
Also I was watching "Mad Men" Season 1 last night. The team from Sterling Cooper just was able to get a new account. To celebrate they went to a bar. The songs were that late 50's sound. Then someone played Chubby Checker's "The Twist" and that brought the crowd to the dance floor. I know this is fictional but I can see this actually happening when rock and roll was introduced. Rock and Roll brought an attitude, a swagger, a whole new kind of music and a lot of energy. Not only that but "The Twist" is still an amazing song.
I also loved the final scene of Season 1, Episode 9 with Betty Draper shooting at the mean neighbor's precious pigeons. Nobody is going to call Betty Draper weak again. That's a very funny scene.
themusicaddict
Monday, July 6, 2009
Michael Jackson tributes
Hello,
The tributes to Michael Jackson are starting. Madonna, on the first stop of her Sticky and Sweet tour, did a tribute to Michael Jackson. She had a MJ impersonator dancing all of Jackson's signature moves, including the moonwalk. The song playing in the background was "Wanna Be Starting Something". Then Madonna said, "Michael Jackson, long live the king."
There's also a video circulating of Steve Martin parodying Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video from 1984. It's pretty spot on and funny. The man was a one of a kind genius and his influence will be felt for a long time. Jackson's legacy is only going to continue to grow over time, it's already huge. 1.6 million people applied through a ticket lottery for the about 8700 seats for his public tribute. People is now the latest magazine with a Michael Jackson cover. I subscribe to both EW and Rolling Stone but have yet to receive their Michael Jackson issues. I'm also hoping to pick "Moonwalk" up today. It's a book about Michael Jackson from 1988.
I've been listening to a lot of Michael Jackson lately. One of the things is disc 2 of his "History" CD. This CD has a lot of solid songs on it. Some of the many great songs on "History" Disc 2 are his remake of the Beatles "Come Together", his version is much more funky of course. Other great songs: "D.S.", "History", "Money", "2 Bad", "Scream" (with his sister Janet), "Stranger In Moscow", "Tabloid Junkie", "They Don't Care About Us" (a pretty cool video as well), and "You Are Not Alone".
Also ew.com is currently running a feature about 18 past MTV VJs. Included is Pauly Shore, Daisy Fuentes, the loopy Nina Blackwood and Mark Goodman. That's cool and all but where is Martha Quinn, J.J. Jackson and Kurt Loder? Jackson apparently has now passed away. R.I.P. J.J. Also in one survey Quinn was voted the best MTV VJ of all-time.
Also to answer your question, is themusicaddict only listening to Michael Jackson songs now? The answer is no and to show that here is the latest addition of Songs that are Rockin' my iPod. Of course there are Michael Jackson songs on here as well. 1) "Take Me As I Am"- Sugarland. Yet another great song from Sugarland. 2) "Rockin' the Suburbs"- Ben Folds (Ben is "rockin' the suburbs just like Micahel Jackson did, except for that he was talented" In the strangest combinations of bands Folds also names Jon Bon Jovi and Quiet Riot. 3) "Daisy"- Halfway To Hazard 4) "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong"- The Spin Doctors 5) "Duke of Earl"- Gene Chandler 6) "21 Guns"- Green Day This is a great, great song. 7) "Mack The Knife"- Bobby Darin 8) "Before He Cheats"- Carrie Underwood 9) "Dirty Diana"- Michael Jackson 10) "Walking In L.A."- Missing Persons 11) "All My Friends Say"- Luke Bryan 12) "Patience"- Guns N' Roses 13) "Me Plus One"- Annie 14) "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance" (Live)- Sinead O'Connor. 15) "All At Once"- Whitney Houston (themusicaddict will also be very sad when Whitney dies. Be prepared for several blogs about her when she dies.) 16) "Who's That Girl"- Madonna 17) "These Days"- Rascal Flatts 18) "Music"- Madonna 19) "Pride (In The Name of Love)"- U2 20) "Sugarfoot"- Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. (One of the best songs that have come along in the last several years.) 20) "Hot Stuff"- Donna Summer 21) "Peter Gunn Theme"- Sarah Vaughn 22) "Off The Wall"- Michael Jackson 23) "Clumsy"- Fergie
Have a great week, themusicaddict
The tributes to Michael Jackson are starting. Madonna, on the first stop of her Sticky and Sweet tour, did a tribute to Michael Jackson. She had a MJ impersonator dancing all of Jackson's signature moves, including the moonwalk. The song playing in the background was "Wanna Be Starting Something". Then Madonna said, "Michael Jackson, long live the king."
There's also a video circulating of Steve Martin parodying Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video from 1984. It's pretty spot on and funny. The man was a one of a kind genius and his influence will be felt for a long time. Jackson's legacy is only going to continue to grow over time, it's already huge. 1.6 million people applied through a ticket lottery for the about 8700 seats for his public tribute. People is now the latest magazine with a Michael Jackson cover. I subscribe to both EW and Rolling Stone but have yet to receive their Michael Jackson issues. I'm also hoping to pick "Moonwalk" up today. It's a book about Michael Jackson from 1988.
I've been listening to a lot of Michael Jackson lately. One of the things is disc 2 of his "History" CD. This CD has a lot of solid songs on it. Some of the many great songs on "History" Disc 2 are his remake of the Beatles "Come Together", his version is much more funky of course. Other great songs: "D.S.", "History", "Money", "2 Bad", "Scream" (with his sister Janet), "Stranger In Moscow", "Tabloid Junkie", "They Don't Care About Us" (a pretty cool video as well), and "You Are Not Alone".
Also ew.com is currently running a feature about 18 past MTV VJs. Included is Pauly Shore, Daisy Fuentes, the loopy Nina Blackwood and Mark Goodman. That's cool and all but where is Martha Quinn, J.J. Jackson and Kurt Loder? Jackson apparently has now passed away. R.I.P. J.J. Also in one survey Quinn was voted the best MTV VJ of all-time.
Also to answer your question, is themusicaddict only listening to Michael Jackson songs now? The answer is no and to show that here is the latest addition of Songs that are Rockin' my iPod. Of course there are Michael Jackson songs on here as well. 1) "Take Me As I Am"- Sugarland. Yet another great song from Sugarland. 2) "Rockin' the Suburbs"- Ben Folds (Ben is "rockin' the suburbs just like Micahel Jackson did, except for that he was talented" In the strangest combinations of bands Folds also names Jon Bon Jovi and Quiet Riot. 3) "Daisy"- Halfway To Hazard 4) "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong"- The Spin Doctors 5) "Duke of Earl"- Gene Chandler 6) "21 Guns"- Green Day This is a great, great song. 7) "Mack The Knife"- Bobby Darin 8) "Before He Cheats"- Carrie Underwood 9) "Dirty Diana"- Michael Jackson 10) "Walking In L.A."- Missing Persons 11) "All My Friends Say"- Luke Bryan 12) "Patience"- Guns N' Roses 13) "Me Plus One"- Annie 14) "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance" (Live)- Sinead O'Connor. 15) "All At Once"- Whitney Houston (themusicaddict will also be very sad when Whitney dies. Be prepared for several blogs about her when she dies.) 16) "Who's That Girl"- Madonna 17) "These Days"- Rascal Flatts 18) "Music"- Madonna 19) "Pride (In The Name of Love)"- U2 20) "Sugarfoot"- Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. (One of the best songs that have come along in the last several years.) 20) "Hot Stuff"- Donna Summer 21) "Peter Gunn Theme"- Sarah Vaughn 22) "Off The Wall"- Michael Jackson 23) "Clumsy"- Fergie
Have a great week, themusicaddict
Saturday, July 4, 2009
"Slumdog Thousandaire"
Happy July 4th,
After hearing many good things about it, my wife and I finally watched "Slumdog Millionaire" last night. I'm sure you can tell by the title of this blog that we didn't like it. It's suppose to be an inspirational movie? It might inspire people to drink because it's such a depressing story. It's an okay movie, but I highly doubt its the best movie of its year. I haven't seen any of the other nominated best pictures nominees for that year. FYI: The four other nominees are "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "Frost/Nixon", "Milk" and "The Reader". I haven't seen any of those four movies. (I would like to reccomend a movie that came out of nowhere and actually lived up to it's hype. That's the excellent "Life Is Beautiful". You definitely need to see that movie. It's a 5 star movie.)
If you gave me the choice of having the DVD or the soundtrack to "Slumdog Millionaire" I would definitely take the soundtrack. While I never want to see "Slumdog" again I enjoyed the music from the movie. A lot of that Indian music is very good.
Yesterday I watched the last 1.5 hours of VH1's Top 90's videos. I wasn't surprised by what was #1. It's Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit". That's a great song. However I get sick when one of the guests said something to the effect that Nirvana is our generation's Beatles. Really? Hell no! Nirvana is one of the most overrated bands of all-time. Kurt Cobain was not a genius. If it wasn't for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Cobain's suicide the band would be where it should be. That's relegated to the dustbin of history. For my generation I would say Pearl Jam is our Beatles. I would say Nirvana is our generations Herman's Hermits.
I have some birthday money still. My favorite thing to buy is music. I've been looking for quality music to buy, but I'm extremely picky. I'm also very cheap, that's why I look at amazon.com to see what their extremely discounted MP3 CD of the day is. Unfortunately most days its something that's not really exciting. For instance, today is a Steve Miller CD. He's good but I already have all of his music that I want.
Some of the CD's I have bought with my birthday money: 1) Chickenfoot's debut CD, 2) "When The World Comes Down"- The All-American Rejects 3) "The E.N.D."- Black Eyed Peas 4) "Love on the Inside"- Sugarland (I love Sugarland!) 5) "The Crane Wife"- The Decemberists and 6) "Dangerous"- Michael Jackson. I only paid $5 for the Cd's by the Black Eyed Peas, the Decemberists and Chickenfoot.
Now I'm looking for the next CD to add to my collection. I think I have found it. That CD being Metallica's "Load". I had this CD before but it fell out of favor and I traded it in for credit. I was listening to 30 second snippets last night on amazon.com. I had forgotten how good this CD is and I was kicking myself for trading it back in for credit. I would have already rebought "Load" but so far I'm to cheap to pay the $9.99 to buy it. Maybe some day!
Enjoy your Independence Day, unfortunately I have to work today. Although I'm expecting it's going to be very slow at the VZW call center. themusicaddict
After hearing many good things about it, my wife and I finally watched "Slumdog Millionaire" last night. I'm sure you can tell by the title of this blog that we didn't like it. It's suppose to be an inspirational movie? It might inspire people to drink because it's such a depressing story. It's an okay movie, but I highly doubt its the best movie of its year. I haven't seen any of the other nominated best pictures nominees for that year. FYI: The four other nominees are "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "Frost/Nixon", "Milk" and "The Reader". I haven't seen any of those four movies. (I would like to reccomend a movie that came out of nowhere and actually lived up to it's hype. That's the excellent "Life Is Beautiful". You definitely need to see that movie. It's a 5 star movie.)
If you gave me the choice of having the DVD or the soundtrack to "Slumdog Millionaire" I would definitely take the soundtrack. While I never want to see "Slumdog" again I enjoyed the music from the movie. A lot of that Indian music is very good.
Yesterday I watched the last 1.5 hours of VH1's Top 90's videos. I wasn't surprised by what was #1. It's Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit". That's a great song. However I get sick when one of the guests said something to the effect that Nirvana is our generation's Beatles. Really? Hell no! Nirvana is one of the most overrated bands of all-time. Kurt Cobain was not a genius. If it wasn't for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Cobain's suicide the band would be where it should be. That's relegated to the dustbin of history. For my generation I would say Pearl Jam is our Beatles. I would say Nirvana is our generations Herman's Hermits.
I have some birthday money still. My favorite thing to buy is music. I've been looking for quality music to buy, but I'm extremely picky. I'm also very cheap, that's why I look at amazon.com to see what their extremely discounted MP3 CD of the day is. Unfortunately most days its something that's not really exciting. For instance, today is a Steve Miller CD. He's good but I already have all of his music that I want.
Some of the CD's I have bought with my birthday money: 1) Chickenfoot's debut CD, 2) "When The World Comes Down"- The All-American Rejects 3) "The E.N.D."- Black Eyed Peas 4) "Love on the Inside"- Sugarland (I love Sugarland!) 5) "The Crane Wife"- The Decemberists and 6) "Dangerous"- Michael Jackson. I only paid $5 for the Cd's by the Black Eyed Peas, the Decemberists and Chickenfoot.
Now I'm looking for the next CD to add to my collection. I think I have found it. That CD being Metallica's "Load". I had this CD before but it fell out of favor and I traded it in for credit. I was listening to 30 second snippets last night on amazon.com. I had forgotten how good this CD is and I was kicking myself for trading it back in for credit. I would have already rebought "Load" but so far I'm to cheap to pay the $9.99 to buy it. Maybe some day!
Enjoy your Independence Day, unfortunately I have to work today. Although I'm expecting it's going to be very slow at the VZW call center. themusicaddict
Friday, July 3, 2009
Random news
Good day!,
The Michael Jackson magazine cover explosion has begun. As I had predicted, of course it wasn't a very difficult prediction, Michael Jackson is the cover subject of the next Rolling Stone. I believe they actually moved up their next issue a week early to get this special issue out as soon as possible. Of course this is just the beginning. The end of Jackson's life is just the start of what's going to be a sordid story unfortunately. Entertainment Weekly has four different covers in honor of Michael Jackson. Expect to see him on the cover of many magazines throughout this summer. Please whatever you do, don't be a hater. I have "Moon Walk" on hold at the local library, it's a Michael Jackson biography. I look forward to trying to understand the things that made the man tick. Jackson was a very fragile, childlike person.
As you can tell I'm a big fan of Michael Jackson. He's not the only performer I'm going to be sad when they die. When any of the three remaining living members of Led Zeppelin die, be prepared to face a deluge of sentiment from this blog. There will also be several blogs when certain other artists die. When Madonna dies, which hopefully won't be for a very long time, this blog will turn into a vigil. Like Michael Jackson she's one of my favorite musicians. I will also be sad when Billy Joel, and many others die.
Speaking of 80's classics the other day I bought the "We Are The World" MP3 single. Today I bought Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" at amazon.com for only 89C. That's one of the hidden gems from the 80's. I would recommend you pick up both of those excellent songs.
I was able to watch episodes 4-6 of "Mad Men" season 1 a couple of days ago. That's such a great show and I wished I had the additional episodes so I could continue watching them. My lovely wife and I also watched the Woody Allen film "Vicki Christina Barcelona". That's an okay movie, however Javier Bardem is an amazing actor. He played a psychopathic killer in "No Country For Old Men" and was chillingly effective. He plays a Romeo like character in this movie and was also outstanding. He plays both roles with such amazing ability. I never really thought about Javier Bardem a lot before, but the man is an amazing actor.
Have a great 4th of July for me, unfortunately I'll be working that day. I did get a bonus day off though- today! themusicaddict
The Michael Jackson magazine cover explosion has begun. As I had predicted, of course it wasn't a very difficult prediction, Michael Jackson is the cover subject of the next Rolling Stone. I believe they actually moved up their next issue a week early to get this special issue out as soon as possible. Of course this is just the beginning. The end of Jackson's life is just the start of what's going to be a sordid story unfortunately. Entertainment Weekly has four different covers in honor of Michael Jackson. Expect to see him on the cover of many magazines throughout this summer. Please whatever you do, don't be a hater. I have "Moon Walk" on hold at the local library, it's a Michael Jackson biography. I look forward to trying to understand the things that made the man tick. Jackson was a very fragile, childlike person.
As you can tell I'm a big fan of Michael Jackson. He's not the only performer I'm going to be sad when they die. When any of the three remaining living members of Led Zeppelin die, be prepared to face a deluge of sentiment from this blog. There will also be several blogs when certain other artists die. When Madonna dies, which hopefully won't be for a very long time, this blog will turn into a vigil. Like Michael Jackson she's one of my favorite musicians. I will also be sad when Billy Joel, and many others die.
Speaking of 80's classics the other day I bought the "We Are The World" MP3 single. Today I bought Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" at amazon.com for only 89C. That's one of the hidden gems from the 80's. I would recommend you pick up both of those excellent songs.
I was able to watch episodes 4-6 of "Mad Men" season 1 a couple of days ago. That's such a great show and I wished I had the additional episodes so I could continue watching them. My lovely wife and I also watched the Woody Allen film "Vicki Christina Barcelona". That's an okay movie, however Javier Bardem is an amazing actor. He played a psychopathic killer in "No Country For Old Men" and was chillingly effective. He plays a Romeo like character in this movie and was also outstanding. He plays both roles with such amazing ability. I never really thought about Javier Bardem a lot before, but the man is an amazing actor.
Have a great 4th of July for me, unfortunately I'll be working that day. I did get a bonus day off though- today! themusicaddict
Thursday, July 2, 2009
"We Are The World"
Hello,
While watching Michael Jackson videos yesterday, one of my favorites is the "We Are The World" video. This is certainly a video that captured it's era. It shows the hot musicians of that time and also some legends who got courtesy invites. (All research came from me and the "We Are The World" wikipedia page.) On January 28th, 1985, following the American Music Awards, all these artists appeared to sing this song.
The single "We Are The World" was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. The song is credited to USA for Africa and was meant to help with severe drought in Africa. Ken Kragen, the producer, turned down about 50 artists that wanted to participate.
This video features such hot at the time singers Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Kenny Rogers, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Cyndi Lauper and Huey Lewis. Prince was tentatively set to appear, but was a no-show. However his super talented percussionist Shiela E came. Some of the singers who got courtesy invites were Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau and Diana Ross.
My favorite part though is the people in the video who are singing and you think to yourself what the hell are they doing there? For instance, 4 Jackson siblings were participating as well. (Were his parents too busy?) How much power did Michael have at that time? He was able to get LaToya, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito spots in the song. (That's Tito Jackson's second most famous moment. His first in Eddie Murphy's "Delirious". "Get Me A Kleenex Tito".) 10 months later Janet Jackson exploded with "Control". About a year later she became the hottest Jackson for awhile. Why wasn't she invited? Seriously Tito and Marlon Jackson were invited.
Also Dan Ackroyd was in attendance, why? His participating is even more dubious than Marlon and Tito. Is Dan Ackroyd secretly a Jackson brother? Bette Midler seems a little out of place as well. Definitely go to mtvmusic.com and check out this video. It currently is their #19 video. Amazingly this CD is not for sale in the MP3 format anywhere. Back in the dayI had that CD actually on a record. It's a pretty good CD and featured then new songs by Prince and Huey Lewis. The single is available at amazon.com for 99c. I was surprised that I didn't have this song in my iTunes library, I do now though.
One thing I wanted to write about yesterday but forgot. On mtvmusic.com Michael Jackson is dominating their current Top 40 videos. The Top 11:
1) "Good Girls Go Bad"- Cobra Starship They are the next hottest artist on mtvmusic.com. They have 3 of the Top 41 videos. They also have #35 "Guilty Pleasure" and #41 "Send My Love To The Dancefloor". Also that "Good Girls Go Bad" is a pretty cool song. Is that going to be on a new CD, if so when is it going to be released.
2) "Thug Story"- Taylor Swift
3) "Thriller
4) "Thriller" (long version)
5) "Billie Jean"
6) "Man In The Mirror"
7) "Bad"
8) "Beat It"
9) "Smooth Criminal"
10) "Black or White" (Long Version)
11) "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" Obviously the 3-11 videos are all Michael Jackson songs.
On the mtvmusic.com Top 40 videos Michael Jackson also has the #'s 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 36, 39 and 40 videos.
I think that's a testament to several things. First, Michael Jackson is the man. Second, 80's music is the best and many of those artists usually had long careers. 3) Artists typically made a lot more music in the 80's so their influence is more felt. Also that's why Michael Jackson has so many videos in the Top 40 because he was a lot more prolific.
One week ago Michael Jackson died all too suddenly. The man is a genius and it's time to bury him. Reportedly he has a lot of music in his vaults, please Jackson family/ Sony don't release it all just to make a buck. (I'm afraid that is what is going to happen.) Please only release the music that won't tarnish his tremendous legacy.
Peace, themusicaddict
While watching Michael Jackson videos yesterday, one of my favorites is the "We Are The World" video. This is certainly a video that captured it's era. It shows the hot musicians of that time and also some legends who got courtesy invites. (All research came from me and the "We Are The World" wikipedia page.) On January 28th, 1985, following the American Music Awards, all these artists appeared to sing this song.
The single "We Are The World" was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. The song is credited to USA for Africa and was meant to help with severe drought in Africa. Ken Kragen, the producer, turned down about 50 artists that wanted to participate.
This video features such hot at the time singers Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Kenny Rogers, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Cyndi Lauper and Huey Lewis. Prince was tentatively set to appear, but was a no-show. However his super talented percussionist Shiela E came. Some of the singers who got courtesy invites were Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau and Diana Ross.
My favorite part though is the people in the video who are singing and you think to yourself what the hell are they doing there? For instance, 4 Jackson siblings were participating as well. (Were his parents too busy?) How much power did Michael have at that time? He was able to get LaToya, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito spots in the song. (That's Tito Jackson's second most famous moment. His first in Eddie Murphy's "Delirious". "Get Me A Kleenex Tito".) 10 months later Janet Jackson exploded with "Control". About a year later she became the hottest Jackson for awhile. Why wasn't she invited? Seriously Tito and Marlon Jackson were invited.
Also Dan Ackroyd was in attendance, why? His participating is even more dubious than Marlon and Tito. Is Dan Ackroyd secretly a Jackson brother? Bette Midler seems a little out of place as well. Definitely go to mtvmusic.com and check out this video. It currently is their #19 video. Amazingly this CD is not for sale in the MP3 format anywhere. Back in the dayI had that CD actually on a record. It's a pretty good CD and featured then new songs by Prince and Huey Lewis. The single is available at amazon.com for 99c. I was surprised that I didn't have this song in my iTunes library, I do now though.
One thing I wanted to write about yesterday but forgot. On mtvmusic.com Michael Jackson is dominating their current Top 40 videos. The Top 11:
1) "Good Girls Go Bad"- Cobra Starship They are the next hottest artist on mtvmusic.com. They have 3 of the Top 41 videos. They also have #35 "Guilty Pleasure" and #41 "Send My Love To The Dancefloor". Also that "Good Girls Go Bad" is a pretty cool song. Is that going to be on a new CD, if so when is it going to be released.
2) "Thug Story"- Taylor Swift
3) "Thriller
4) "Thriller" (long version)
5) "Billie Jean"
6) "Man In The Mirror"
7) "Bad"
8) "Beat It"
9) "Smooth Criminal"
10) "Black or White" (Long Version)
11) "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" Obviously the 3-11 videos are all Michael Jackson songs.
On the mtvmusic.com Top 40 videos Michael Jackson also has the #'s 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 36, 39 and 40 videos.
I think that's a testament to several things. First, Michael Jackson is the man. Second, 80's music is the best and many of those artists usually had long careers. 3) Artists typically made a lot more music in the 80's so their influence is more felt. Also that's why Michael Jackson has so many videos in the Top 40 because he was a lot more prolific.
One week ago Michael Jackson died all too suddenly. The man is a genius and it's time to bury him. Reportedly he has a lot of music in his vaults, please Jackson family/ Sony don't release it all just to make a buck. (I'm afraid that is what is going to happen.) Please only release the music that won't tarnish his tremendous legacy.
Peace, themusicaddict
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Yes, more Michael Jackson
Hello,
Today I'm focusing on the classic videos of Michael Jackson. I'm going to be start off a little bit strangely. As my one long-time reader knows I'm a big fan of the website mtvmusic.com. Thanks to that website, the last couple of days I've watched a lot of Jackson's classic videos. ALthough the first video I'm highlighting isn't even by Jackson.
It's the Alien Ant Farm cover of "Smooth Criminal". I'm not sure if this is a parody or a tribute to Michael Jackson. When the band stands on the blocks, they light up like in "Billie Jean". This video also does the cut away of the eyes as in that same "Billie Jean" video. There's also exploding glass and a monkey that sits on the lead singer's lap. I'm guessing that's some reference to the Neverland Ranch.
That's a pretty enjoyable video. (Also that is half of the Alien Ant Farm's good songs.)
Now on to the videos of Michael Jackson. Of course his best song and best video are for the same song, "Billie Jean". I was going to add it to my blog but "embedding is disabled by request". Then there's the 13:42 "Thriller", this is the video that usually ranks #1 whenever MTV counts down videos. (Do they even do that anymore?) There's also the 11:01 video for "Black or White" starring George Wendt and McCauley Culkin. Another long video is the 16 minute video for "Bad" featuring Wesley Snipes as a gang banger. Definitely some classic videos.
There's also the extremely sad video "Man In The Mirror". This video mixes clips of the world's unfortunate intercut with some of the greats. For instance, Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. Don't forget "Scream" his video and song collaboration with sister Janet. Michael was good at a lot of things but looking tough was not one of them. Janet looks tougher in this video than Michael does.
A few years Michael Jackson released "History". On one side is a greatest hits collection and on the other side was new songs. I think the greatest hits disc is a pretty good selection. However there are some huge omissions. Where is "Dirty Diana" and "Smooth Criminal" and even "They Don't Care About Us". Why is "The Girl Is Mine" and "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" on "History". Both are fine but I wouldn't rate them as Top 15 Michael Jackson songs.
If I had made up the Michael Jackson greatest hits CD, this is what my track listing would have been: 1) "Billie Jean" duh. 2) "Black or White"- I just barely realized how great of a song this is. 3) "Dirty Diana" Another soulful and intense song. 4) "Smooth Criminal" A great, great video and song. Although the "Annie are you okay?" refrain is too repetitive. 5, 6 & 7) "Beat It", "Bad" and "Thriller". What would be a Michael Jackson greatest hits collection without these three songs?
8) "Man In The Mirror" Just a solid and great song. 9 & 10) "They Don't Care About Us" and "Leave Me Alone" Two songs rightfully telling people to leave him alone. 11 & 12) "Rock With You" and "Don't Stop Until You Get Enough". Two great songs he sang as Disco went away. 13 & 14) "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)". Two great update, very dance worthy songs. 15 & 16) "She's Out Of My Life and "Heal The World". His two best ballads would close out this greatest hits collection very well.
Also Janet Jackson made a very emotional appearance at last weeks B.E.T.'s award show.
This is the best I could find. Have a good day, themusicaddict
Today I'm focusing on the classic videos of Michael Jackson. I'm going to be start off a little bit strangely. As my one long-time reader knows I'm a big fan of the website mtvmusic.com. Thanks to that website, the last couple of days I've watched a lot of Jackson's classic videos. ALthough the first video I'm highlighting isn't even by Jackson.
It's the Alien Ant Farm cover of "Smooth Criminal". I'm not sure if this is a parody or a tribute to Michael Jackson. When the band stands on the blocks, they light up like in "Billie Jean". This video also does the cut away of the eyes as in that same "Billie Jean" video. There's also exploding glass and a monkey that sits on the lead singer's lap. I'm guessing that's some reference to the Neverland Ranch.
That's a pretty enjoyable video. (Also that is half of the Alien Ant Farm's good songs.)
Now on to the videos of Michael Jackson. Of course his best song and best video are for the same song, "Billie Jean". I was going to add it to my blog but "embedding is disabled by request". Then there's the 13:42 "Thriller", this is the video that usually ranks #1 whenever MTV counts down videos. (Do they even do that anymore?) There's also the 11:01 video for "Black or White" starring George Wendt and McCauley Culkin. Another long video is the 16 minute video for "Bad" featuring Wesley Snipes as a gang banger. Definitely some classic videos.
There's also the extremely sad video "Man In The Mirror". This video mixes clips of the world's unfortunate intercut with some of the greats. For instance, Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. Don't forget "Scream" his video and song collaboration with sister Janet. Michael was good at a lot of things but looking tough was not one of them. Janet looks tougher in this video than Michael does.
A few years Michael Jackson released "History". On one side is a greatest hits collection and on the other side was new songs. I think the greatest hits disc is a pretty good selection. However there are some huge omissions. Where is "Dirty Diana" and "Smooth Criminal" and even "They Don't Care About Us". Why is "The Girl Is Mine" and "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" on "History". Both are fine but I wouldn't rate them as Top 15 Michael Jackson songs.
If I had made up the Michael Jackson greatest hits CD, this is what my track listing would have been: 1) "Billie Jean" duh. 2) "Black or White"- I just barely realized how great of a song this is. 3) "Dirty Diana" Another soulful and intense song. 4) "Smooth Criminal" A great, great video and song. Although the "Annie are you okay?" refrain is too repetitive. 5, 6 & 7) "Beat It", "Bad" and "Thriller". What would be a Michael Jackson greatest hits collection without these three songs?
8) "Man In The Mirror" Just a solid and great song. 9 & 10) "They Don't Care About Us" and "Leave Me Alone" Two songs rightfully telling people to leave him alone. 11 & 12) "Rock With You" and "Don't Stop Until You Get Enough". Two great songs he sang as Disco went away. 13 & 14) "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)". Two great update, very dance worthy songs. 15 & 16) "She's Out Of My Life and "Heal The World". His two best ballads would close out this greatest hits collection very well.
Also Janet Jackson made a very emotional appearance at last weeks B.E.T.'s award show.
This is the best I could find. Have a good day, themusicaddict
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