Moving On Sadly From The Connecticut Tragedy

Hello,

Twenty-seven innocent people were killed yesterday by someone that obviously had serious issues. However that doesn't mean the world stops. As well as possible we do need to move on, although we'll be feeling numb in our hearts. And just because we are moving on, doesn't mean we'll forget all these victims.

Please let's not hate on the killer, 20 year old Adam Lanza, we have no idea the troubles he had faced in his life. We also have no idea what went on his mind.

In the sports world the NBA continued on last night. Thunder forward Kevin Durrant printed "Newtown Ct" on his shoes. Also Kevin Garnett and Kevin McHale exchanged a hug last night. That probably had more to do with McHale's daughter recently dying, but it was still a touching moment on a horrific day.

I don't post this list to be ghoulish, but hopefully to provide some context for this terrible tragedy. As always when there's any breaking news, I always go to abcnews.com. I find that their coverage is fair and accurate. This is the list of the names of all the victims of yesterday's tragedy copied and pasted directly from abcnews.com. Thanks to them.

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Rachel Davino, 29

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dawn Hocksprung, 47

Madeline Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Lauren Russeau, 30

Mary Sherlach, 56

Victoria Soto, 27

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6

themusicaddict

Sad News From Connecticut

Hello,

Originally this blog was going to be a second blog about some of the prettiest songs ever, I already had started compiling a list.

Then sadly reality interrupts. Some obviously deranged individual went into a school and killed 20 kids and 6 adults. I just can't believe that someone would do this, but it seems there are mental health issues involved with the shooter. Please let's not judge him, let's focus on getting the survivors all the help they need.

I ask everyone to keep these people in their prayers. Also please let's not politicize this, this isn't a situation that someone should try and take advantage of.

As they said on abcnews.com, their are 20 sets of parents whose kids didn't come home today. Think about that and hug your family members. Hug your family, hug a cop and please forgive all those who have wronged you. Prayers to everyone involved in this situation, indeed to all of us.

There are many of my Facebook friends quoting this song "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day". This is the Casting Crowns version:



The lyrics below are from oldielyrics.com.

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), 1867)

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

This song also seems to be appropriate on on this great day of sadness:



themusicaddict

Roger Waters & Eddie Vedder "Comfortably Numb" & "In The Flesh" 12/12/12

Hello,

This is truly spine tingling stuff:



Roger starts off his set with "In The Flesh: Part 2":



Earlier Roger had sang "Another Brick In The Wall: Part 2" and "Money". (Sorry the sound is so terrible, I'm hoping better video will be uploaded today. When it is I will replace this.)



Here's better video of "Another Brick In The Wall" Part 2:



themusicaddict

Some Of The Prettiest Songs of All-Time

Hello,

Almost 98 minutes of some of the prettiest songs of all-time:



The songs in the above video:

1) "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)"- Phil Collins
2) "A Groovy Kind of Love"- Phil Collins How can you not love these lyrics: "When I kiss your lips ooh I start to shiver, can't control the quivering inside."
3) "I Just Can't Let Go"- David Pack (I had never heard this song before, but I like it.)
4) "Calling Your Name Again"- Richard Carpenter
5) "After All"- Peter Cetera and Cher
6) "The Glory of Love"- Peter Cetera
7) "Time Will Reveal"- El Debarge
8) "Too Much Heaven"- The Bee Gees
9) "Emotion"- The Bee Gees and Samantha Sang
10) "I Can't Tell You Why"- The Eagles
11) "Betcha By Golly Wow": The Stylistics
12) "The Long Run"- The Eagles (hmm this song doesn't really fit)
13) "I Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore"- REO Speedwagon
14) "The Only One"- Lionel Richie
15) "The One You Love"- Glenn Frey
16) "Lover's Moon"- Glenn Frey
17) "How Deep Is Your Love"- The Bee Gees
18) "The Best of My Love"- The Eagles
19) "Will You Still Love Me"- Chicago
20) "You're The Inspiration"- Chicago
21) "Tequila Sunrise"- The Eagles
22) "Hard To Say I'm Sorry"- Chicago
23) "Song For You"- Chicago
24) "Lyin' Eyes"- The Eagles

Kenny Rogers' "She Believes In Me":



This is one of the prettiest songs of all-time, enjoy. I listened to this song about 5 or 6 times in a row, it's just so amazing. Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet":



Another one of the prettiest songs ever. Madonna's "Crazy For You":



This is one of the most powerful pretty songs ever. Mr. Mister: "Broken Wings":



Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years":



Journey's "Faithfully":



With Prince so hesitant for having his music on youtube, this was the best video I could find for this amazing song. Prince (featuring Sheena Easton)  "Arms Of Orion":



Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love":



Glenn Mederios' "Nothing Gonna Change My Love For You":



"The best you can do is fall in love" Christopher Cross' "Arthur's Theme (The Best You Can Do)":



Just because a song is pretty, it doesn't mean it's a full on love song. Pretty songs also deal with loss and heartbreak. Don Henley and Patty Smyth's "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough":



A pretty but heartbreaking song. This is Willie Nelson's finest moment "Always On My Mind":



All I can say about this amazing song is "Wow!" The Commodores "Still":



Have you noticed how many of these songs are from movies? This song is from "Top Gun", which I look forward to seeing in my local theatre again on February 8th. It will be in 3D (which is the most obnoxious technology ever) but it will also be on the IMAX screen. IMAX is pretty cool technology though. Posting songs from movies isn't intentional on my part. "Take My Breath Away"- Berlin:



This is from one of my favorite movies of all-time, the original "Footloose". Mike Reno (Loverboy) and Ann Wilson (from the recently inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band Heart) "Almost Paradise":



Benny Mardones "Into The Night":



Manny Pacquio why oh why did you have to try and sing this song? Dan Hill's "Sometimes When We Touch":



Vanessa Williams' "Save The Best For Last":



Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes' "Up Where We Belong":



Garth Brooks "One Night A Day":



Juice Newton's "The Sweetest Thing":



The Spice Girls "2 Becomes 1":



Sade's "The Sweetest Taboo":



themusicaddict

9-13: Maybe The Lakers Just Aren't That Good? (Updated 12/13/12)

Hello,

The Lakers have the 12th best record in the Western Conference. So if the playoffs started today, the Lakers wouldn't be in them! How enjoyable that would be!! The Lakers play the Knicks in New York tonight, a team with one of the best records in the NBA. (Notice how I didn't say one of the best teams in the NBA.) Since both teams can't lose, I'll be cheering for the Knicks. The Lakers are awful on the road, they are only 2-7. Also it's likely they'll be playing without The Big Stiffy for the 6th straight game- it's not like that's a big loss. Meanwhile the Knicks are 8-0 at home. If I was a betting man, I would put my money on the Knicks tonight.

The Lakers lost to the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers last night 100-94 to fall to 9-13. Yes, I realize that the Cavs Kyrie Irving was back. I also realize that the Big Stiffy, Pau Gasol, and Steve Nash weren't able to play for the Lakers. All that being said though maybe the Lakers are just as bad as they look. I don't care if Irving was back for the Cavaliers, the Lakers should still beat what's now a 5-17 team. For hell's sake CJ Miles started for the Cavs, so how good can they be? But yet the Lakers still found a way to lose to them.

It seems that most people assume that the Lakers will be much better once Steve Nash gets back. He probably won't be back for at least two weeks. Even when he comes back, how much gas is left in the 39 year old's tank? Also how durable will he be for the rest of the season? Also how much of a help will the Big Stiffy help the Lakers? He may hang on in the NBA for a couple more years, but I think his effectiveness as an NBA player is almost gone. If I was the Lakers I would do everything I could to dump Gasol, even if they get very little back. The Lakers are an old team, trade Gasol for draft picks.

So even with those two back, how much help will they provide? Nash obviously is the one that seems to be the one the Lakers miss the most.

I also think that the Lakers are realizing that trading for Dwight Howard was a mistake. Sure his stats look shiny, but he has no heart. (I've heard others say this, so it's not just me.) It also seems he hasn't fully recovered from last season's back injury. He's still pathetic from the free throw line. Although Howard did make 13 of 22 free throws last night. That's 59% Dwight, good job! (He's now shooting .488% from the line this season.) My favorite Howard play of the season occurred against the Jazz. He was nearly alone on the baseline and tried a spin move, he lost control and ended up traveling. It was very entertaining.

Thanks to espn.com: "The good news for Mike D'Antoni? His 4-8 start is not the worst by a head coach in Lakers history. The bad news? None of the other coaches on this list won an NBA title with the team and only two of them finished that season -- and that's probably because they replaced other coaches during the season."

D'Antoni is just not a fit for the Lakers. The Lakers are 4-8 since he become their coach. Even more disconcerting than their record is how bad the Lakers look. I know it's only D'Antoni's first season, but the Lakers don't accept mediocrity. How long will they put up with LA's poor play? Is it possible that the Lakers will make another coaching change this season? Whatever the over/under is on games that D'Antoni will coach, I'm taking the under. Remember this is the same Lakers team that didn't hire Phil Jackson when they could have. To my eye the Lakers looked the best under interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff.

JA Adande, I'm sorry I don't agree with you:



This foul shooting rule shouldn't be changed. Isn't that the point of sports to attack a team's weakness? The Lakers glaring weakness many times is Howard's poor free throw shooting. Why shouldn't the opponent be allowed to take full advantage of that? Howard makes almost $20 million this season, he should make his free throws. Why even bring the subject of possibly changing this rule? You can't change the rules for one player. The Lakers already get enough breaks and love from the NBA.

I'm sorry but Dwight just needs to start making his free throws. It just comes down to a strong desire to improve and constant practice. The Rifleman, Chuck Person, should have Howard shooting 500 free throws a day. There's no reason for him not too. Dwight instead of taking time to call Mike Golic and  wishing him a happy 50th birthday, practice some damn free throws. Honestly Howard should have had this skill mastered a long time ago. Either that or D'Antoni needs to pull him from the lineup when the game is on the line.

(Since I'm not a so-called ESPN insider I wasn't able to read Tom Haberstroh's full article about the Jazz's Paul Milsap and Pau Gasol possibly being traded for each other. However that's the dumbest thing I've heard from the Jazz's perspective. Why would the Jazz trade one of their hardest working, athletic and healthy big men for the over-the-hill, injury prone Big Stiffy? Hell to the no!!!)

themusicaddict

Dodgers Sign Greinke, Ryu: Are The Dodgers Heading To Their Own Fiscal Cliff?

Hello,

Yesterday the Dodgers signed 29 year old Zack Greinke to a 6 year- $147 million dollar contract. In terms of dollars this is the second costliest contract signed by a pitcher ever. Second only to the $161 million dollar contract that CC Sabathia signed. Recently LA also signed 25 year old Hyun-Jin Ryu to a 6 year-$36 million dollar contract. As of right now the Dodgers payroll will be $225 next April, yes that will be a record. Also yes that will be for just that one season.

Usually I'm very excited when one of my teams signs potentially great players. I love that the current Dodgers ownership isn't scared of spending money, especially after the financially challenged Frank McCourt era, however I can't help but think that the Dodgers might be overdoing it a bit. Below are some of the contracts they've agreed to in just the last few months. Also the Dodgers will want to resign Clayton Kershaw here fairly soon.

From Jayson Stark's December 9th story on espn.com:

• Zack Greinke is about to earn approximately $147 million through 2018.
• Adrian Gonzalez is owed $127 million through 2018.
• Carl Crawford is due $102.5 million through 2017.
• Matt Kemp has $108 million coming through 2019.
• Andre Ethier is owed $85 million through 2017.

From Jonah Keri over at Grantland.com:

Notable Dodgers Contractual Commitments

Player	Signed Through	Guaranteed
Matt Kemp	2019	$148 million
Zack Greinke	2018	$147 million
Adrian Gonzalez	2018	$127 million*
Carl Crawford	2017	$102.5 million*
Andre Ethier	2017	$83.5M (includes $2.5 million buyout)
Brandon League	2015	$22.5 million
Josh Beckett	2014	$31.5 million*
Hanley Ramirez	2014	$31.5 million
Chad Billingsley	2014	$23 million
* Red Sox sent $12 million to Dodgers as part of trade

SOURCE: ESPN Stats & Info

Again I love how much the Dodgers are willing to spend. However I wish that there was a system in place where a team could have more confidence in getting out of their deal, like the NFL system. With his contract,  Greinke is going to get $147 no matter how he performs. He could win 120 games or he could win 10 games, either way he's still going to make $147 million.

I get the feeling that the Greinke signing will end up not working as well as the Dodgers and their fans would like. And I'm afraid of seeing articles like this, about Greinke, from ESPN.com's Mark Saxon at MLB's winter meetings:

One of the agendas the Dodgers are pushing aggressively in the lobby is to find a trade partner to take utility infielder Juan Uribe. Needless to say, the Dodgers are garnering little interest unless they're willing to pay his entire contract. Uribe, who has batted .199 the past two seasons combined, is entering the final year of a three-year, $21 million contract.

In other words Uribe has been paid $14 million dollars for hitting less than .200 in his two seasons as a Dodger. Obviously they don't want to pay him $7 million for not breaking the Mendoza line in batting.

At this point this is how I see the big Dodgers contracts ending up. These are the Dodgers players that have the best chance living up to their contracts. I hate to say that any player can actually live up to such humongous contracts.

Matt Kemp has as good of a chance as anyone full his contract to a large extent, as long as he can avoid the injury bug. The Dodgers were a completely different team when Kemp wasn't in the lineup last season.

Clayton Kershaw should also come close to living up to his contract. He's won one Cy Young award and came close on another one. He also has been relatively injury free and still is only 25 years old. The Dodgers, and all of the MLB, know what the Dodgers have in him. I have more faith that Kershaw will live up to his contract than Greinke.

Zack Greinke: He's a proven pitcher and finished with a 15-5 record last season. He also previously has won a Cy Young award.

Questionable if these Dodgers players will live up to their contracts:

Andre Ethier: When his contract is over, I believe it will show that he was wildly overpaid.

Adrian Gonzalez: I highly doubt he'll come very lose to living up to his contract. I was excited when the Dodgers first traded for him. However after seeing how ineffective he was at the plate after the trade, I now have major doubts. He hit 3 home runs in a 145 Dodger at bats last season. Obviously that amount doesn't justify his huge contract.

Hyun-jin Ryu: What do the Dodgers really know about him? Will he be the next injury prone, wildly overpaid player like Daisuke Matsuzaka? Or will be a solid pitcher like Yu Darvish, although Darvish only pitched for a year in MLB. Ryu's goals are to finish about as well as Chan Ho Park did, I would be good with that.

Yasiel Puig: The Dodgers signed the former Cuban player to a 7 year-$42 million dollar contract earlier this year. He's coming off of surgery. And a lot like Ryu, the Dodgers won't know what they got until he's played for a couple of years in MLB. Although there's no guarantee that he'll make it to MLB.

Hanley Ramirez had a decent rest of his season after he landed with the Dodgers. He had some big hits, although he didn't quite live up to his contract. Although with him and all these other players will they do better with a full spring training with LA?

Brandon League: He's the Dodgers closer.  Some people are floating the possibility that the Dodgers could win 110 games next season. With the way the Dodgers are built, League should average 50 saves over the next 3 years. If League does that he'll easily have lived up to his contract. However I'd be shocked if he earns 150 saves over the next 3 seasons.

Doubtful:

Josh Beckett: A veteran pitcher who has come up big in the playoffs in the past. However what does he have left? I expect the Dodgers will be very happy to see this contract expire in 2014.

Carl Crawford: He's recovering from Tommy John surgery and somehow the Red Sox convinced the Dodgers to take him in the AGon trade. After signing that huge contract with Boston, he only played two seasons for them. In those two seasons he was wildly ineffective and injury prone. He only played 31 games last season before he got Tommy John surgery. The chances of the Dodgers ever recouping their money on this deal I would say is about 5%- that is if I'm being very optimistic.

Chad Billingsley: he's been too injury prone. I don't how much the Dodgers can really count on him. The Dodgers shouldn't resign until he has finished his contract.

themusicaddict

Two Weeks Until Christmas: Good Tidings To You

Hello,

I promised myself that I'm going to enjoy Christmas time this year more than usual. One thing that gets me into the Christmas spirit is all the amazing Christmas music.

This song is "And He Shall Purify, which is from Handel's Messiah. The Messiah is one of the greatest pieces of musical composition ever. (Right up there with "The Wall", "Appetite For Destruction" and Led Zeppelin's "4".)



Of course this is the most famous song from Handel's Messiah, the Hallelujah Chorus:



amazon.com has The London Philharmonic's Messiah performance available now for only $5.00. In fact they have 100 Christmas CDs on sale now for only $5.00 each. Obviously these are the MP3s available, not the physical copies. Other Christmas CDs they have include The London Symphony's "Nutcracker". I knew there were some good songs from the "Nutcracker", but I didn't realize how many. Here's a couple of it's most famous songs. This is "March":



"Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy":



Also for $5.00 MP3s they have Rod Stewart's "Merry Christmas Baby", a couple of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas CDs (which come very highly recommended by me). My November 22nd blog was about TSO and I have many of their great songs featured there. However this is my favorite TSO song, "Wizards In Winter". "Wizards of Winter" isn't on one of the $5.00 Christmas CDs. However it's on the CD "The Lost Christmas Eve", which is $4.99. TSO is currently touring behind "The Lost Christmas Eve" CD.



Smash Mouth's "Gift of Rock" (yes, it's a Christmas album with more of a rock edge). Also amazon has Straight No Chaser's "Holiday Spirits", if you like your Christmas music sung in a capella. They do a great job with many of the songs they sing.

No, amazon.com doesn't pay me anything to promote them, however I like to recommend where good deals can be found. Also for a limited time, amazon.com has the Kindle version of the amazing "The Art of Racing In The Rain" for only $2.99. If you are looking for a great book to read, this is one. It does deal with some very adult themes, however in the end it's a feel good story. Don't let the fact that it's narrated by a dog stop you from reading this book. I strongly suggest you add "The Art of Racing In The Rain" to your Kindle before this deal ends. It literally is one of the Top 100 books I've ever read.

themusicaddict