Hooray For Saturday!

Today's Sip Of Kool Aid

For all the kids and grown folks out there that like both the hip and the hop.

Lyric Of The Day

"On the strip the kids get lit so they can have a real good time.  Come Sunday they can just take their pick from the crucifix skyline."

_{From the Dixie Chicks song "Lubbock Or Leave It"}

Best Of Both Worlds

I can't believe our daughter is about to graduate from preschool.  Her last day of class is a week from today, which also is the big night.  The big night is the graduation ceremony that the school is putting on for the class.  From what I gather, not only will the children be dressed in cap and gown and graduating from preschool, they will be performing for our entertainment.

Doodlebug can't keep a secret for anything and she has spilled the beans to me about the live performance, which will include the musical numbers Best Of Both Worlds, by a girl the daughter refers to as Hannah Bu'tanna and Y.M.C.A., by The Village People.  Hmm, OK.

I'm not so sure about fueling the Hannah Montana fire, isn't that show geared towards kids over 10 anyway?  Luckily, Doodlebug doesn't seem to interested in everything Hannah, just the one tune to practice.

I only hope that she can come out of her shell during the performance, as she does around the house when she is singing and dancing.  If so, it could be quite a show.  Whatever the case, Dad might shed a tear.

And The Children Drunk Lemonade

"Life In A Northern Town" by The Dream Academy seems to be a song I can't get away from.

I've heard it so many times in the past few weeks.  At the bank, the grocery store, an outdoor mall, in a restaurant, all over the place.  I also just realized that there is a popular country act covering it in their live shows, so maybe that has something to do with it popping up all over the place.  I'm not saying it's a bad tune, I don't mind The Dream Academy in light doses.

However, Billy Ocean is different.  I don't need to hear "Caribbean Queen" again anytime soon.

I find radio stations that refer to themselves as light (or is it lite?) and background music a very interesting format.  What is the statute of limitations before a song can be considered light?  I find it interesting that I will hear some song by Nirvana, which in their hey day would never be considered lite, right behind a song by The Carpenters.

Do you ever pay attention to what is playing in the background or do you just tune it out?  I'm all ears, although they might be fuzzy, as to what is playing in my surroundings at all times.

Welcome To The Institution

Music is a big part of our lives, we listen to tunes daily. 

I have alluded in the past that the kids will sing along to anything.  So it was no surprise that Doodlebug was walking through the house today, singing at the top of her lungs the following:

I'm going to rehab to say hello, hello, hello.

Momma has been listening to some Amy Winehouse in the car.  Please dear, another tune on the album.

Drive By Truckers, On The List

The new album by Drive By Truckers entitled Brighter Than Creation's Dark quickly tops my best records of 2008 list.

Long time fans know of the changing line up and might consider this record a bit of a change, but if you have never listened to them this is a good introduction.  The record has great story telling songs that mostly move along to a country twang, but there are a few rockers on the album as well.

On DBT's website it says:

"Not only is this our finest album, but it sounds better on vinyl by an even bigger margin than any of the others. It was written, learned, played, mixed and mastered for vinyl. It's how it was meant to be heard and it shines like Rain Dance Car Wax on a 69 Camarro."

Being a big fan of the way a recording sounds on vinyl, I can understand what they are saying.  There is something about analog recording and vinyl that give such a depth to the music.  Once the album is available on vinyl, I would surely look into making the purchase.

Turn it up.

And The Grammy Goes To: Sick Day Edition

I did it.  I have gone and got the sickness that is going around Flo, KY.  The night before last I didn't sleep much, yesterday sucked, didn't get much sleep last night and here I am today sitting in the recliner falling asleep off and on.  I don't know if you recall, but I coughed up a lung a while back and I'm pretty sure I coughed up the other one last night.  This is the sickest I've been in some time. 

But, at least I'm not having to entertain Doodlebug & The Little Man today.  They went out to a elementary school indoor carnival.  Woo-hoo, carnival!

So I got up and moved around, so my butt wouldn't grow a root into this recliner, and I've had my share of "Gone Country".  That show is not going to help any man get better.  Then I thought to myself let's see who is up for Grammy Awards.

Long ago, in a business far, far away it used to be kind of mandatory to watch the Grammy Awards.  Just to see what in the world of music was going on, but now it's safe to say I have no idea who is nominated for awards this year.  My problem with the Grammy's is that they are always a day late...I'm not going to say a dollar short, because Grammy Awards sell records or at least they used to.  I'm just saying, chances are the nominated records and artists have been out a while and usually the show is not very fresh.

Let's go through some categories, shall we, and I will pick who I think should win, no who I think will win.  Well maybe I'll do both if I don't pass out from abdominal strain due to all the coughing going on here.

Record of the year.  Awarded to the artist, producer, engineer and mixer.  All of these tunes, besides Foo Fighters song maybe, has been around for awhile or at least on my radar.  See what I mean?  I can't listen to Timberlake without hearing "Dick In A Box", EVERY SINGLE TIME. 

• Irreplaceable ~ Beyonce
• The Pretender ~ Foo Fighters
• Umbrella ~ Rhianna  Should win and I think will win.  Really great tune.
• What Goes Around...Comes Around ~ Justin Timberlake
• Rehab ~ Amy Winehouse

Album of the year.  Awarded to artist, producer, engineer, mixer and master. 

• Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace ~ Foo Fighters  I would love to see this album win, but I don't think it will.  Hands down, in my opinion, the best band in America over the past decade, they deserve to be acknowledged for this really good record.
• These Days ~ Vince Gill  Another good album by a guy that just churns them out.
• River: The Joni Letters ~ Herbie Hancock  I have not heard it, but just downloaded it.  Herbie is legend.
• Graduation ~ Kayne West  I think Kayne wins this one with another spectacular album.
• Back To Black ~ Amy Winehouse  Last year, I say yes.  Easy.  This year I say no, no, no.  Amy, I love you, but America has it's own hot mess to deal with here and by the way, she put out a not so bad album.

Best new artist.  Make all you can out of this fifteen minutes!  I looked high and low, but couldn't come up with a list of past winners from the official Grammy site.  I guess that whole Milli Vanilli thing put a damper on that party.  But here there are, have a look.  How many are still putting out music today?

• Feist  I think she will win, even though she is not really new.  I hope she doesn't, I would like to hear more.
• Ledisi  Smooth jazz has it's new princess.
• Paramore Think Fall Out Boy minus fat boy with sideburns, plus hot little chickadee.  See first statement after category above.
• Taylor Swift  The new young country radio starlet.  She will win, country record sales are way down this year.
• Amy Winehouse  I don't want her to win, I want to hear more music from her.

There are a ton of other categories to check out, however, I am beat, Feel free to go through them yourself and tell me who you think will win at least these three categories. 

Uh-oh, I just heard the garage door open, which means the circus is back in town. I'm going to bed and listen to some music.

Someone Take The Wheel

I'm still going through my compact discs, double checking that everything I want on a hard drive is there before I donate them to the library.

One of my favorite things about working in a record store in my much younger days, back when there were just stores that sold records, was turning people on to something they might not have heard before.  Then later in the week, or whenever, them coming back to hang out in the store to give their opinion on stuff.  As time goes by, it's something I really miss a lot.  At least my kids are open to stuff, we play music all the time.  I'm so happy that they connect with it and they each have their own favorite tunes.

I saw a playlist on the blog by Jane and suggested the band Son Volt to her, so I'm going to send those to cds to her.  For my money, there isn't a better record to have in the car, as you are driving across the country, than "Trace" by Son Volt.  That record came out right prior to me packing up all my belongings in a truck, leaving my mother in Louisiana, and moving to Chicago.  It will always be my go to record for the open road.

So with that being said, what's yours?  What tunes do you want to have coming from the speakers on the open road?  I'm just trying to gather what you folks listen to, who knows maybe I can send you something.

Rusty Trombone & The Fat Mattresses

As of late, I've read all kind of blogs where people are talking about the game "Guitar Hero".  People across the country are becoming addicted.  Rightfully so, it's fun.

I'm not really that good on the guitar, although I have enjoyed the game.  Prior to playing at a friend's house in Chicago it had been a while since I last strapped on the tiny axe to grind.  Don't get me wrong, I always had fun when I played it, however I always wished there was a drum kit I could sit behind to play along with.

Last weekend I was able to spend some a lot of time playing the game "Rock Band".  There is a drum kit involved in this game.  Thank goodness I don't own this game and it's not at my house.  It was a blast!  A friend of mine has it for his XBox 360 and is playing it on a television the size of a drive in movie theater screen. 

So last Saturday night the game started around 6:30pm and we finally left the stage stopped around 1:00am.  For the majority of the time I was the drummer (getting wicked), which was awesome.  I did take a few turns on bass guitar and even once taking the microphone to channel a little Geddy Lee, on the tune "Tom Sawyer". 

Along with the rotation of seven different people joining and quitting the band from song to song, every band joke there is was dropped at one point by one of us, which added to the entertainment of the evening.  At some point during the evening the band was named.

Hello Cleveland!  We are, Rusty Trombone & The Fat Mattresses.

So This Is The New Year

New Year's Eve is amateur night out and "New Year's Day" is a pretty good tune, with nice chord progressions, by the band U2.

That basically summed up how I usually feel about this time of year.  I'm the guy that didn't laugh that hard when Otto, an older gentleman at my old job, used to tell me, "See you next year!", when he was simply referring to two days later.  Ah, that guy, he's hilarious.

Sure it's good to reflect back, and this blog allows me to do so better than I ever imagined it would, but I've always preferred to think about what's to come, instead of reminiscing. 

Lately however, I find myself marveling at how fast our kids seem to be growing up.  So this year I'm really going to try and do my part in keeping records, taking pictures and even pulling out the video camera to film them being goofy more often, so that we will be able to reflect back and show them how they made our year.

One thing we will be doing this year, is playing this game I received from Santa.  It's easy to play, educational and simply put, a blast.