The Joy of Remembering a Great Song

With so many platforms available to both find and listen to music these days, you can easily make a mix of your past and present favorites for your daily enjoyment. But you have to be able to remember those songs first.

My issue is that I've simply forgotten about many of my really old favorites. Ones that were a little less popular in the mainstream so they never show up on an '80s channel or a Spotify/Amazon/iTunes/whatever pre-made playlist. Ones that I have to hear randomly on a TV show or in a movie or maybe once in a blue moon on the radio and then immediately email myself about them so I don't lose them again forever.

One such song that I recently rediscovered was a pretty cheesy one from my college years: "Sweat (A La La La La Long)," by Inner Circle. (I thought it was called "Girl, I'm Gonna Make You Sweat" until I just looked it up. I also didn't realize it was by the same group who sings "Bad Boys"—what?!?)

This song was part of the lunchtime mix at the hotel we stayed at this past November in Curaçao. The first time I heard it there I totally spazzed out—it brought back great memories of Spring Breaks gone by. How I ensured I would remember it is that I took a video of Desmond eating lunch while it was playing in the background. If you feel like grooving to a reggae beat today, here's the official video. (I won't subject you to the one of a toddler eating fries.)

Another one I was even more excited about surprised me during the movie Wild (which was one of my top picks of 2014, by the way). As you may know, the film is based on the true story of Cheryl Strayed (played by Reese Witherspoon) who walks more than 1,000 miles across Pacific Coast Trail to make peace with her past. Music is incorporated in a very cool way throughout the movie, and at one point she's hiking and a song starts playing quietly in the background. She says something like, "Sing it with me, Bruce," and it grows louder. And then I could tell it was "Tougher than the Rest," which is one of my all-time favorite Springsteen songs. It was never released as a single in the U.S., but was on his Tunnel of Love album, and I went to that concert tour back in the day. It's now also on the Wild soundtrack.

Oh, how I used to looooooooove that song. I was overjoyed to hear it in Wild. It was like being reunited with a long-lost friend. But since I was in the middle of a theater, I couldn't email myself and then of course forgot about it by the time the credits rolled. Thankfully I watched the film again at home about a month later (a perk of the job: awards-screener DVDs) and then I was able to immediately remind myself to get it on my current playlist. Phew. Now I, too, can say, "Sing it with me, Bruce!"

- e

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Long time, no write!

I've been running around like a madwoman, but things are finally getting back to normal (for a little while, at least... the summer is always crazy-busy -- why is that?). This past holiday weekend was spent NOT going to the Taste of Chicago with my visiting friend Nerdy P. It was just too hot out, and we weren't feelin' it. It sounds like we weren't the only ones: 2011 marked a 25-year low (2.35 million food-lovers) in Taste attendance, and now its future is a little bit up in the air. Yikes!

But rest assured that we did continue our annual tradition of enjoying the Sea Dog speedboat ride that leaves from Navy Pier and zooms up and down the coast of Lake Michigan. I think Nerdy P's son liked it. Would you agree?



OK, now on to the real subject of this post! The weekend before last (as in, the final weekend of June), my husband and I drove from Chicago to Pittsburgh for a charity event, and on the way we stopped in Cleveland to check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When we moved back from Boston in 2003, my poor husband drove a huge truck halfway across the country with all our crap in it (while I flew home) and attempted to visit the HoF then... but it was closed. I still remember how annoyed and disappointed he was. And so I was a little bit nervous about this place living up to his expectations.

The good news is that we both really liked it. We spent about five hours there and could've stayed a lot longer, but needed to get back on the road. The first thing we did was watch an hour-and-fifteen-minute-long presentation that covered all of the 296 inductees since the museum opened in 1986. But somehow we missed the big wall with everyone's signatures?!? D'oh.

I had figured that the majority of the building would be filled with rock memorabilia and outfits and props and whatnot, but in addition to all of that stuff, there were a ton of interactive exhibits and films and video clips. Much more than would be present in a "normal" museum. The one I found most interesting featured The Beatles (no surprise), as well as some members of their production team, talking about each of their albums and what they liked and didn't like about it.

Speaking of The Beatles, you may have heard that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame boasts the world's largest collection of items from The Fab Four. So I was kind of expecting A LOT of Beatles stuff... but it was really just one wall of about 70 things -- from jackets, to John's glasses, to handwritten lyric sheets, to Ringo's drum head. Don't get me wrong, it was cool and I loved it, but I guess I'd envisioned some huge room or display space that would take an hour to get through. When I started thinking about it, though, I realized that I can't recall ever having seen any authentic "Beatles stuff," so maybe it's just so spread out all over the globe that it simply doesn't take as much as I would've guessed to be considered "the world's largest collection."

One thing I found kind of funny was that in the special "Women Who Rock" exhibit, there was security guard dedicated to watching over Lady Gaga's infamous "meat dress." Which, by the way, absolutely (obviously) had something done to it to preserve it... but unfortunately it was to the point that it didn't really even look like meat anymore, but rather just a weirdly textured spray-painted-red, plaster-filled dress. On top of that, it was in a fully enclosed glass case. So I thought to myself, "They have a security guard for this, yet no one dedicated to, say, Michael Jackson's sequined glove or Elvis's jumpsuit or any of the other awesome items in the building?" Weird. Maybe Gaga made having a guard a condition of loaning out the dress. Who knows.

I would've included pictures of all the neat stuff that was there, except that -- as in many museums -- you weren't allowed to take any photos. The restriction was lifted in the atrium, though, which was where I snapped the Moby/Gwen props to the right, which were used in Gwen Stefani's Southside video (you can see them here from the 43-second mark on).

One last highlight that's worth mentioning before I wrap up: A wall dedicated to Rolling Stone magazine and its co-founder Jann Wenner. This display has tons of letters that famous rock stars sent to Wenner (as well as his replies), and there are also fascinating correspondences between Wenner and photographer Annie Leibovitz, as well as journalist/author Hunter S. Thompson (who wrote for the magazine in the early '70s).

When I was preparing to write this post and wanted to make sure I was getting my facts straight, I came across this section in Wenner's Wikipedia entry about how he's supposedly kept a lot of groups from being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... groups including my beloved Monkees! Damn that snob!

Despite that "who gets inducted" controversy, I would still highly recommend a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should you ever find yourself in Cleveland. Musicians (like my husband) will probably appreciate all the museum has to offer a little more than plain old music-lovers like myself, but I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't find most of the major exhibits worth seeing.

Rock on,
- e

Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood at the United Center

As I sat listening to Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood play at the United Center last week, I started planning out what I might say about the show for this blog entry. But a lot of the descriptions and phrasing that ran through my mind seemed familiar -- like I'd already written the exact same things before. Lo and behold, after searching through my 'A to e' posts I found that I did in fact write about a Clapton concert back in 2006. Sometimes it is really unnerving to have such an awful memory.

Anyway, while three years ago I saw Clapton by himself and he played a lot of his most popular songs, this time around he reunited with his Blind Faith bandmate Steve Winwood and they focused on old blues standards. This probably made anyone who appreciates "good music" and/or superior guitar-playing really happy, but I was sorely disappointed. Over the course of about two and a half hours, I only knew two Clapton songs: 'After Midnight' and the slow, acoustic version of 'Layla' (which I don't like nearly as much as the original version). I kind of recognized 'Forever Man,' and then covers of 'Georgia on My Mind' and 'Sweet Home Chicago' were the only other tunes I was familiar with that evening. That equates to five songs I knew in 150 minutes!

The legendary Buddy Guy came out for the encore and sang along to 'Sweet Home Chicago' and then helped draw the show to a close with 'Drowning on Dry Land' (the entire set list is here, if you're interested). I've seen Buddy pop up at a few other concerts before (like with John Mayer at the Taste of Chicago in 2007) and he always steals the show. Clapton and Winwood's voices were cracking and fading a bit and I chalked it up to the fact that they're both in their sixth decade, but then along comes Buddy Guy, who's 72) and blows them both out of the water with his loud, commanding, powerful-as-ever pipes.

Although I'm probably giving off the impression that I didn't enjoy the show, let me be clear that I did -- I simply wish that more of the Clapton and Winwood songs I know and love had been played. Hell, the concert was free, we had box seats, and I got an awesome chocolate and caramel-covered apple from the infamous "dessert cart" on top of getting to relax for once, so I'm not complaining.

And even though Steve Winwood played absolutely none of his solo hits from the '80s, this concert helped remind me of all of them, and so the next day I downloaded 'Valerie,' 'Back in the High Life Again,' 'Roll With It,' 'Higher Love,' 'The Finer Things' and 'Don't You Know What the Night Can Do' -- a song which I absolutely loved back in the day but had completely forgotten about -- from iTunes.

Since I didn't get to hear DYKWTNCD live, the next best thing is its video from 1988, so I'll leave you with that. Extra points to anyone who can remember the Michelob commercial set to this song in that same year!

They Got Me.

As the holiday season prepares to smack us all upside the head with its presence (OK, so some retailers have had decorations up since Halloween, I just refuse to acknowledge them), the entertainment industry is doing anything and everything it can to vie for your attention, not to mention your hard-earned cash.

Don't forget to buy our soundtrack!
Don't forget to watch our show!
Don't forget to pre-order your ticket!
Don't forget to read this book!
Don't forget to check out our new album!

I surrender! I'm going to more movies, watching more TV and buying more stuff off of iTunes and Amazon than ever before -- bad economy be damned!

Here are my thoughts on just a few of the marketing blitzes I fell for:

- Coldplay: Viva La Vida - Prospekt's March edition

First off, I'm sure some people out there are going to rip me apart for not knowing this, but I've searched diligently online and cannot figure out what "Prospekt's March" even means, and it's bugging the bejeezus out of me. Do any of you know?

Regardless, that's the name of Coldplay's album (released today) that is basically just their old album with a few more tracks -- some of which are remixes of existing songs. I hate when bands do stuff like this. It's just like when DVDs come out in ten million different versions -- each with approximately two minutes of new material -- just enough to trick die-hard fans into buying the same movie they already own once more. How many box sets of the Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Star Wars saga does one really need? The answer: not as many as one wants!


- 24: Redemption

Yeah, I watched this crap last night (stop reading if you have it on Tivo and haven't gotten to it yet - I will be spoiling away...). Ten minutes into it, my husband said, "That's it, I'm done, this sucks," and left the room. But I, ever the Jack Bauer groupie, stuck it out for the entire two hours.

All this "TV movie" was was a blatant attempt by FOX to rake in advertising revenue and ensure that we haven't forgotten about their show that hasn't been on for over a year. Guess what? I would've tuned in for 24 in January regardless; now I'm just bitter about the show for two months before the season even begins. Around the same time my husband threw his hands up in disgust, I had already figured out the entire plot: Jack's going to give himself up to ensure the safety of the African orphans and that's how he'll return to the U.S. to start kicking ass alongside CTU, or whatever the hell it's going to be called, in Season Seven.

I'm going to pretend that I actually didn't see the previews for the new season, however, because I fear that the show has finally jumped the shark and I just can't bear to believe it. When people start coming back to life, that's a bad, bad sign.

- Twilight: The Soundtrack

You can read my write-up on the movie here... the actual film is not what I need to rant about at this point. It's the fact that I was cajoled into buying the entire film soundtrack even though I was only interested in two songs. But it was all or nothing on iTunes. Sneaky.

I gave all of the tracks a chance, and the good news is that I do like a few of the other songs, but the bad news is that I can never fully erase the memory of Perry Farrell's "Go All the Way (Into the Twilight)" from my head. It is awful and he should be ashamed of his transparent attempt to make himself and his music relevant to tweens. I almost passed out when I heard Radiohead's "15 Step" kick in during Twilight's last scene and continue over its end credits -- I'm sure Thom and the boys got paid for that, but at least the song was nowhere to be found on the soundtrack. That would've surely been a sign of the Apocolypse.

I shudder to think what else I'm going to buy, read, listen to or watch between now and January 1 that I'll live to regret...

- e

e's Favorite Things: The Neverending Story

I've been in a very, very bad mood this week. I won't bore you with the reasons, but I will share one of the only things that has been able to lift my spirits: the music video for the theme song from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Neverending Story (and yes, I've read the book, too).

If you are also a fan of this 1984 masterpiece, then you must stop what you are doing and let yourself get whisked away once again to Fantasia, courtesy of the brilliance that is this three-minute forty-five second clip:

I swear to you, if I have three kids, their names will be Bastian, Atreyu and Falkor. There are no more rockin' names in this world than those. I will also style their hair just like that dude's in the video (bearer of another great name: Limahl). I guess if I had a daughter, though, she would have to be Moonchild. I hope no one clues my husband into these plans.

I'm going to be writing more about The Neverending Story some time tomorrow on redblog. In the meantime, I will play this clip about 1,000 more times until The Nothing has retreated and I'm in a happy place again. (Although the video does remind me of the sad fact that I still don't have a pet dragon... sigh.)

- e

e's on "Lost!"

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Ha, suckas... made you look!

First and foremost, you should all realize by now that if I ever got the chance to actually be on my favorite TV show, Lost, you would never hear from me again because I would've died from Extreme Happiness shortly thereafter.

So, no... unfortunately I'm not talking about appearing on the television series Lost ... I'm talking about being in the music video for Coldplay's upcoming single, "Lost!" (They put the annoying exclamation point in the title, not me. And for the record, I still prefer the slower version of the song, entitled "Lost?")

The song will be released on November 10th, and you can see the video, shot at the concert I attended this summer at the United Center, here.

If you look closely you can totally see me in the crowd. I have brown hair and am wearing a gray top. If you can't spot me... well, I have bad news - I think a trip to the optometrist is in store for you. Sorry.

- e

Like a Rolling Stone

It seems that a person can either be a Beatles fan or a Rolling Stones fan, doesn't it? Rarely do you come across someone who claims to be equally as crazy for both bands. I guess the Stones do have more of a bluesy sound whereas The Beatles were at first more pop and then more rock/alternative, so I guess it makes sense that they would attract different audiences.

Anyway, as you all know, I'm a Beatles girl. But I do like a few of the most well-known Rolling Stones songs, especially "Under My Thumb," "Anybody Seen My Baby?" and "Sympathy for the Devil." And when I was in fifth grade, I liked that ridiculous "Dancin' in the Street" video that Mick Jagger made with David Bowie (I just died laughing watching it again). And you have to give respect to the fact that Keith Richards played Captain Jack Sparrow's pirate dad. On top of all of that, I found the concept of Martin Scorsese trying to film a Stones performance interesting. So I rented Shine a Light, and guess what? I liked it.

If you are a hard-core Stones fan, you've probably already seen this movie... but if you haven't, you need to go rent it right now. While I was a little disappointed that they didn't show more of the behind-the-scenes preparation that went into pulling off the film, a true fan of the band would better appreciate the fact that the movie is pretty much just a recorded concert (albeit beautifully shot, no disrespect to Marty). Some vintage footage of the guys is thrown in here and there, and a few funny moments with Scorsese are covered in the beginning, but other than that, the film is mostly comprised of hit after hit on stage. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Since I was unfamiliar with a lot of the songs that were showcased, I was surprised at how much I still enjoyed Shine A Light. I think it's because it was just fascinating to watch these guys who are all in their mid-50s perform with such intensity. Mick Jagger, for one, is just a maniac. I couldn't bust out moves like he can even when I was 12!

So I would guess that if you're like me and enjoy the Rolling Stones' music enough to listen to it for a little over an hour and a half, you will find Shine a Light quite captivating. I would also highly recommend the "featurette" on the DVD, which has more of the backstage and archived footage that I liked best from the full-length film.

Here's the trailer in case you are wavering... notice the skull and crossbones on Keith's coat at the 1 minute 37 second mark! Once a pirate, always a pirate.

- e

Three Seconds Say It All: Experiencing Lollapalooza Vicariously

So, as I figured, I didn't end up going to Lollapalooza at all this past weekend. My husband, however, had a great time over the course of the three-day event and thankfully did not end up getting trampled. When he arrived home each night and showed me the videos he captured, I was confident that I had made the right decision to NOT attend. Yes, I'm old. A picture and short (and I do mean SHORT) video he shot during Rage Against the Machine's performance the second night (Saturday) prove my point.

Here's the picture:


So that doesn't look THAT bad, right? Crowded, yes... but everyone at least seems to be coordinated in their efforts to rock out and/or take digital pictures.

But now check out the video, taken from that same spot minutes later. I will let you watch it first (it's safe for work, but you NEED the sound on) and then I will give my comments below. Unfortunately it's not as crisp of a picture as it is when I play it on QuickTime from my laptop, but you'll get the idea.

OK... so I watched this video about 50 times in a row after he came home Saturday night and laughed my head off every single time. Then I woke up in the middle of the night giggling about it. I keep re-watching it and keep laughing. Something about it just kills me. He said that he literally could not move, that's how packed it was, even fairly far back from the stage (the stuff being thrown in the sky was just water, by the way). As he attempted to hold up the camera, someone slammed into him from behind (people were moshing even that far back in the crowd!) and down came his arms as he struggled to not lose his footing or our camera.

I wish I knew if that weird scream noise at the end was him or someone else, but I guess it will remain a mystery (he has no memory of screaming, but I don't think he'd admit it if he did...). Anyway, he kept his camera in his pocket from that point on.

Shortly after the video above was taken, Rage actually had to stop their show because people were getting crushed up against the barricades near the stage. The lead singer asked everyone to "take ten steps back" and to not let their aggression out at the festival, but rather to "take it to the streets." What?!?! Was he instructing people to riot after the show? Who knows. Regardless, that didn't happen. But they did have to stop the show two more times to plead again with the crowd to move back.

Anyway, even though I got a kick out of his short clip, it reinforced my initial hunch that I would've absolutely hated dealing with that sort of crazy crowd.

His pictures and videos from the Radiohead set on the first night, however, did make me wish I could've watched their show from a bubble floating over the masses.


Here's just a partial clip of their performance of "The Bends," one of my favorites. The initial seconds of the video show the entire stage before zooming in.



He also recorded songs from Wilco, Battles and hyper DJ Girl Talk (a few lyrics near the beginning are not safe for work), for those of you who many be interested. The best part of the Girl Talk video is about 1 minute 40 seconds in, where a guy starts crowd-surfing right in front of my husband... two feet appear in front of the lens all of a sudden. Since Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis) is a DJ, he basically just let his laptop play and it looked like an all-out dance party. My husband reports that it was by far the craziest crowd (in a good way) of the weekend. If, like me, you already felt old before watching that video, you will feel absolutely ancient afterward.

My friend Adam Graham, who writes for The Detroit News, posted a recap of his Lollapalooza experience here, so be sure to check that out for more pictures and video clips, including one of the bizarre Girl Talk finale where he rode in an inflatable raft over the crowd while part of the chorus from Journey's "Faithfully" played on loop in the background. !?!?!

For those of you who mourn the loss of The O.C. as much as I do, I end this post with a video of the surprise appearance by Phantom Planet, singing "California" during Mark Ronson's performance. I cannot stop myself from wailing "Californiaaaaa, Californ-yaaaaaaaaaaa, here we coooooommmmmeeeee!" every time I hear this song.



Seth Cohen, I miss you.

- e

No Lollapalooza for Me

I am a little bit sad this morning because I was considering buying a one-day Lollapalooza ticket in order to see Radiohead perform tonight. I was holding off because the weather forecast was calling for thunderstorms. As I should have known because the weatherman is NEVER RIGHT (best job/biggest scam in the world...), it has turned out to be a completely beautiful Friday and the chance of rain is at less than 5%. And now the one-day passes are sold out. Curse you, weatherman!!!

To be honest, though, I'm not that down about not being able to stand in the midst of tens of thousands of people who have been sweating and drinking in the ninety-degree heat all day, especially since it DID storm yesterday and the grass at Grant Park is probably all muddy. I'm not a fan of unassigned seating or the threat of being trampled, what can I say? Because I am also not trusting of my fellow man, I would've probably ended up a mile back from the stage and would've just been stewing throughout the concert and bitter at all the young drunk poseur kids around me. Here is my estimate (red X) of where I would've been standing:


Mind you, that is just ONE of the stages at the festival. But anyway, now that I've really thought this through, I feel better about missing out. I'm going to put that $80 to much better use... like stocking up on Magic Shell or something.

My husband IS attending all three days of Lollapalooza, however, and I'm sure he will make a point of telling me how good Radiohead was and then I will get depressed all over again. At least I saw them two years ago (for you Lost fans who weren't reading this site back then, there is actually a show reference, albeit a weak one, in that old post).

I was also considering getting a one-day pass for Sunday, so as to see Kanye West again, from a better vantage point. I can justify spending that $80 even less than I could justify it for Radiohead, however, so I'm sure I'll remain at home.

But I will say that for those of you who may be going, you will have a tough choice between Nine Inch Nails and Kanye (if you like both of them, that is). I say this because I don't even like Nine Inch Nails (seriously, all of their "songs" sound EXACTLY THE SAME and they give me nightmares!), but if they have the same light show effects as they did a few days ago at a show in Seattle, it would be hard for me to not want to check them out (they play at the same time as Kanye but on a different stage--they've set it up so you can't see or hear the other stages).

The cool part of the light show starts at about the 25-30 second mark... you only need to watch it after that for like 25 seconds to get the idea. Then I just jumped around throughout the rest of the video to get a taste of the other effects--I must say, it's pretty sweet and unlike anything I've seen at a concert before.

But really, though, their music just sounds like noise to me. Yes, I'm old.

For those of you going, stay safe and drink lots of water! If my husband takes any good pictures, I will post them in the days ahead. For now, though, I'm just going to listen to Radiohead on my iPod in my air-conditioned condo, close my eyes and pretend that I'm seeing them live on stage.

- e

I Am Slow

My friend Miss M yelled at me many times last fall, trying to convince me to watch Gossip Girl. Even some of you wrote in and told me that I was guaranteed to like it, so I should give it a shot. But I was desperately trying not to add any more TV shows to my roster, and after The O.C. went off the air, I didn't want to replace it with another angst-filled teen drama that reminded me of how old I was.

But... wow, there's really nothing on TV in the summer months. Even the late-night talk shows are currently in reruns! And dammit if my Tivo didn't record Gossip Girl as a "Suggestion." How could I fight with the little Tivo man?

So, I watched it. And then I watched another episode. And then I set it up for a season pass so that I can catch up in time for Season 2. To date I've only seen three episodes, and I definitely think it is nowhere near as good as The O.C. (the acting is WAY worse, sorry! Not like either show is Emmy-worthy...), but it is entertaining and fits my criteria of not requiring much energy or thought to process. Lost takes up way too much of my brain power during the normal TV season, so I can't waste energy on anything else that's "deep."

My take on Gossip Girl so far is that I like the Dan guy, but he's a blatant rip-off of Seth (with a little Ryan thrown in) from The O.C. Just as Serena is a blatant rip-off of Marissa (and has an awful voice, to boot). But I do like the sketchy Chuck Bass guy. And I find comic relief in the fact that anyone believes Chace Crawford likes the ladies. AND it's kind of confusing that the mom on The O.C. is also the mom on Gossip Girl, but I guess there are only so many ridiculously skinny and good-looking TV moms to go around.

In the last episode I watched, I realized once again how behind the times I am when I recognized a song that was played during the finale of last season's American Idol. I was like, "Oh yeah, I really liked that song! I have to get it from iTunes!" So I did. I remember how I used to make fun of my Uncle John when he started liking songs months (and sometimes years) after they were at the height of their popularity. And now here I am doing the same thing.

The song is "Apologize" by OneRepublic... here is David Archuleta singing it with them in the finale (the performance ends at 3 minutes 20 seconds). Channeling Simon, I must say that I feel that was David's strongest performance.

To wrap up this "things Erika discovers late in the game" post, last night I was flipping around on TV and came across Kathy Griffin's stand-up routine, "Kathy Griffin is not Nicole Kidman." I knew it had to be old because she was talking about her husband, whom she ended up divorcing a while back. But anyway, I always thought Kathy was totally annoying, but my friend Nerdy P thinks she is hilarious, so I decided to give her a shot. And lo and behold, I was laughing my head off. There is a part where she describes an awards show encounter with Ryan Seacrest that was priceless... I recommend it if you can find it anywhere.

Oh, wait, I found it (yay for YouTube)! It's actually from 2005 (yikes!)... here is the funny clip. The set-up is that she is presenting an award with Ryan Seacrest. The end part where she talks about Nelly (and his posse) is the part I was dying at:



OK, now I'm going to go put on my fanny pack, fire up the old Walkman and go roller-skating!

- e

ETA: I have since been informed by a few peeps that the moms are not played by the same person on GG and The O.C. They are apparently two different Fembots. My bad!

Coldplay: Viva La Vida

I wanted to give myself a few days to let the new Coldplay album sink in before making any judgments. Their three previous CDs had to grow on me, and so I knew Viva La Vida would need some time to work its magic as well. But I've listened to it in full enough at this point to comment on what I like... and what I could've done without.

But first let me say that I think anyone who didn't get the pre-release version of the CD got the shaft. Two of my favorite songs--"Lost?" and "Lovers in Japan (Acoustic Version)" do not appear to be on the 10-track, "normal" album that is selling on Amazon.com--though "Lost?" is listed as a "bonus song" on the iTunes version.

I've read quite a few "professional music critic" reviews of Coldplay's latest effort, and I have to admit to being pretty shocked at how differently I feel about the album. Either the critic raved on and on and thought it was their best CD ever (which I strongly disagree with), or they loved everything I hated (namely the track "42," which I find totally annoying, or when Chris Martin sings in an abnormally low voice just to prove that he can).

So, for what it's worth, here is my normal-person's take on Viva La Vida.

What's Good:
- The title track, "Viva La Vida," is my favorite "fast" Coldplay song to date. Nope, I was never on the "Clocks" bandwagon, sorry.

- "Lost?" is the best "slow" song of the CD, and is much better than the main version of the song, entitled "Lost!" (Notice the different punctuation marks--those cheeky Brits.) So if you don't have the version of the CD with "Lost?" on it, do yourself a favor and download that one separately from iTunes. I really hope when I see them in concert next month they play this stripped-down version...

- The pretty much instrumental "Life in Technicolor" is catchy, "Violet Hill" has grown on me, and "Lovers in Japan" is instantly likable, but as I mentioned above, the acoustic version available through the pre-order is much better.

- Overall, there is only one song I really don't like, so I feel that the album as a whole is a success.


What's Bad:
- Unbelievably, there are not one, not two, but THREE tracks that are in between 6:30 and 7:07 minutes long because they actually have more than one song contained within them. As I wrote almost exactly two years ago today, I HATE HIDDEN TRACKS. WHY do bands do this?!?! It makes no sense! All it does is annoy the hell out of everyone.

On Coldplay's latest, they do it with the non-acoustic version of "Lovers in Japan," which has "Reign of Love" tagged on to it. "Yes" also includes the trippy "Chinese Sleep Chant." And finally, "Death and All His Friends" has "The Escapist" tacked on. Why, guys, why?!?!!? I'm threatening to make my husband break them up using his fancy Mac audio software just so I don't need to keep getting angry every time I play these songs.

- As I mentioned above, I can't stand the song "42." It starts out with a whiny, sing-songy Chris Martin proclaiming, "Those who are dead are not dead, they're just living in my head." What? Later when the song picks up its tempo, he's sing-shouting, "You thought you might be a ghost? You didn't get to Heaven but you made it close."

Now, I've overlooked some mega-stupid lyrics in my day, but I just can't get past those. And like I said yesterday, what's with all the ghost talk lately? Anyway, this song just rubbed me the wrong way.

But in the whole scheme of things, that's not such a big complaint, now is it? I'm just happy that I didn't hate the CD, because I really do love the band and I was hoping that I wouldn't dread hearing all of the new songs performed live when I see them next month. Now I know I'll be able to sing along to the vast majority of them, which is good for me but bad for whoever is going to be sitting next to me.

Speaking of Coldplay in concert, did anyone happen to catch the free Madison Square Garden show last night? If so, please let me know your take. Kind of weird that it was only an hour... but I guess you get what you don't pay for, huh?

- e

Oh-Oh, Oh-oh-oh... NKOTB is Back!

I forgot to Tivo The Today Show while I was in Mexico the past few days, but thanks to the power of YouTube, I was able to see the reunited New Kids on the Block performance from Friday. The video is not the best quality in the world, but you get the gist of what went down:

I used to be a huge NKOTB fan... I even went to one of their concerts back in the day. My friend DY and I got the tickets for free, so how could we refuse? But seriously, I would've paid for it if I had to. I don't remember much about the show except that I thought it was good, and that my eardrums were annihilated from all of the girls screaming.

Now those same girls are thirty-somethings and were in the crowd at the concert in New York... kind of funny. I contemplated getting tickets for the New Kids' upcoming tour, but they're playing at my most-hated concert venue here in Chicago (Allstate Arena), so for now I'm going to pass (unless I somehow score free tickets again).

Their new single, "Summertime," isn't half bad. The best is that they still are doing their boy band moves, which is key. It's a much smarter strategy for them to just embrace who they are (and used to be) than to try to show that they're all "mature" by refusing to do the choreographed dances and things that made them famous in the first place. All that would do is alienate their remaining fan base.

Here is the band performing "Summertime" on The Today Show:



I really hope they are going to release a video for this song! I'm going to need to hear it a few more times before I decide whether or not to shell out $.99 for it on iTunes. (I'm betting that I will, though.)

- e

The Latest from Coldplay

I have a soft spot in my heart for Coldplay, as my wedding song was "Yellow," off of their first album (not the most traditional wedding song in the world, I realize). My husband and I saw them in concert before they were really popular, and then took off on a two-month-long backpacking trip through Asia, at the end of which my husband proposed (let me hear it: "Awwwww....").

We saw them again a few years ago for their "X & Y" tour, but had really crappy seats off of the side of the stage in the nosebleed section, so that bummed us out.

Now they're back with another album, "Viva la Vida," and will be hitting the road again soon. I'm going to try to get tickets, but in the meantime I've pre-ordered the new CD and got the title track in advance off of iTunes. I also downloaded another song, "Violet Hill," when they did a promotion a few weeks back on their web site.

I have to admit that "Violet Hill" scared me... I didn't like it at all at first. I was like, "This is what they're giving away for free to get people to buy the rest of the album--yikes?!?!" But I knew I was going to buy whatever they put out anyway, so I still did the pre-order (the full album is released in mid-June). The good news is that "Viva la Vida," while pretty different from the other Coldplay songs I know and love, is very cool. There is no video for the song yet, but some dude uploaded himself and a friend playing it and they did a pretty good job, if you want to get a feel for the song in its entirety:

"Violet Hill" has actually grown on me, too. I don't feel like either of the songs has a real chorus, so perhaps that's what's throwing me. But I'm anxious to hear the rest of the album. "Yellow" was my favorite from "Parachutes," "The Scientist" was my fave from "A Rush of Blood to the Head," and "Fix You" was the best off of "X & Y."

They better have another power ballad in store for me or I will be upset!

- e

The Lucky Jackson Band and Dave Matthews Ba-, er, Trippin' Billies

This past weekend I was invited to the House of Blues to see Trippin' Billies, a Dave Matthews Band tribute band. I've seen DMB in concert several times across multiple states since the early 90s, so I was excited to see how well Trippin' Billies could replicate their sound.

We had been under the impression that the main act started around 9, but they actually didn't go on until 10:30, so we caught most of the opening group, The Lucky Jackson Band. I knew nothing about them, and for the first few songs I actually thought that they were a Bruce Springsteen tribute band or something--the lead singer sounded EXACTLY like The Boss, it was freaky! If you don't believe me, click here and play song #8, Too Many Love Songs. Their CD is now on iTunes, if you're interested...

To be clear, they are NOT a Bruce Springsteen cover band, they are just their own band with their own songs and they were pretty fun to watch. I think unfortunately for them they may sound a little too much like Bruce and the E-Street Band, which could turn people off--like they're trying to be copycats or something. But I personally thought they put on a good show. For those of you in Chicago, they have a song called Lincoln Park Trixie which is pretty funny and can be accessed from the same link above.

When the time came for Trippin' Billies to perform, I was ready to hear some songs that I could sing along with. While they didn't play all of my favorites (or if they did, they played them after I left at midnight), they played several that I knew, including Dream Girl, Grey Street, Everyday, Satellite and #41.

What kind of threw me was that the lead singer looked nothing like Dave Matthews, but he sounded just like him. So I basically didn't want to look at the stage or it would ruin the illusion for me. I think the band sounded closer to the "real" band than the singer sounded like Dave, though.

You can see a video of them playing Ants Marching here. The lead singer I saw looked nothing like the guy in this video... it's either now a different guy, or he grew his hair out to look like that floppy-haired kid Erik (the "ice cream scooper") from the current season of Survivor. Anyway, I thought the lead singer I saw sounded a lot more like Dave than the guy in the linked video.

All of this has inspired me to list my Top Six Favorite Dave Matthews Band songs. Here they are, in no particular order:

Grace is Gone
Say Goodbye
Crush
Crash Into Me
#41
Long Black Veil (some may cry "Blasphemy!" but I like his version (I don't think the band was with him on this one) better than Johnny Cash's)

If you've never seen or heard it, here it is:

As for the songs I don't like from DMB... there aren't too many, but the one that comes to mind right away is Proudest Monkey. I don't even like the title. Proudest Monkey?!?

- e

That's Not That Much Time.

Some of you may remember how I marveled at Madonna's stamina and agility when I saw her "Confessions on a Dance Floor" concert a few years ago. Now she's nearing 50 and can still rock it out better than I can--damn! Have you heard her new song with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, 4 Minutes?

I LOVE IT!

I listened to it over and over again at the gym yesterday, and just saw the video... I totally dig it. She was very smart to team up with JT and Timbaland as many teenagers aren't as familiar with her as they are with those two. I pre-ordered her entire CD on iTunes and will let you know what I think of the rest of it when it comes out at the end of April. But so far, I'm impressed.

One small gripe though... the video and song are both slightly longer than four minutes. What up with that? If you say "we only got four minutes to save the world"... then there should only be four minutes!!!

- e

A Music-Filled Weekend: U2 3D and the Ballet

This past weekend I enjoyed two drastically different activities which shared a common theme: music.

First up was seeing the U2 3D movie that's been in theaters for a few months. I have never been fortunate enough to go to a U2 concert (even though I've tried), so I'm happy to report that seeing this film was the next best thing. I was with someone who I believe has gotten tickets to almost every U2 tour there's been, and even he was blown away by the experience. The concerts that were filmed for the movie were performed in South America in what appeared to be gigantic stadiums. After the movie was over, one of the main things everyone was commenting on was how we would all be afraid to see a show with that many other people--it was insane how packed in the crowd was.

If you're wanting to see some cool 3D effects, however, this probably isn't the movie for you. The trailer for "Journey to the Center of the Earth: 3D" had more "Ooooh Aaaahhh!" moments than did the actual feature film. But while there weren't that many instances of, say, Bono reaching out to touch your head, the 3D technology did allow you to see the depth of the crowd and an interesting perspective of the stage, without being cheesy. I honestly did feel like I was in the crowd, minus sweaty, scantily-clad twenty-somethings crushing up against me.

Here is the 2D version of the trailer, which unfortunately doesn't do a great job of capturing the high energy of the movie.

The highlight was "Where the Streets Have No Name." When that well-known guitar part at the beginning of the song kicked off, I got totally distracted by some of the people in my theater who were literally bouncing up and down in their seats--it was hilarious. 90% of the songs they played in the film, which is 90 minutes long, were some of U2's most well-known hits, so if you like the band at all, you would probably enjoy the movie.

A slightly more subdued experience followed on Sunday, when I went to the Joffrey Ballet. I'm not going to pretend to be cultured enough to know the details about who performed or the history of the acts, but it also wasn't the first time I have seen a Joffrey production, and I did really enjoy it. This time around there were three productions that made up the show--we got to see a little taste (one or two acts) of each. Lilac Garden was about a bunch of people cheating on each other. Dark Elegies featured a lot of moping around. Offenbach in the Underworld showed us a night at a crazy after-hours saloon where tons of people went to blow off steam (which included the entire group performing a high-energy Can-can)--very Moulin Rouge-ish. I liked the first and third performances, but could've done without getting all depressed by Dark Elegies.

Since I usually do something clumsy about once a day, I have great respect for ballerinas and dancers--they are so graceful. I have no idea how anyone can walk on their toes in those thin shoes like that, seriously. My feet hurt just thinking about it again! I need to go find my comfy slippers.

- e

That's What He Said?

Shout-out to MW, who just sent me this link. It goes to a flash presentation (after taking a few minutes to load) that pairs up pictures with all of the lyrics to "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. For all these years I couldn't figure out what he was saying at certain points, so there were a few "a ha!" moments in it for me. Plus, I like the song (don't you agree that it's time for a sequel?), so if nothing else, it was a fun way to kick off the morning.

If you want to watch the original video (which doesn't show pictures of every event mentioned, like the movie I linked to above does), here you go:

- e

Oh, What a Night!

A few years ago, I saw Jersey Boys in New York with Miss M. While she had had a very long day and actually nodded off several times during the show, I raced out of the theater during intermission to call my parents and tell them how awesome it was and that they MUST see it. Miss M and I were probably the youngest people in the audience that night by at least 20 years, but I was bouncing around and singing along to every single song, because I was raised on the music of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. I tried to figure out a way for my family to all go see the show when we were visiting relatives in New Jersey, but it never worked out. So when I got an email earlier this year announcing that the production was coming to Chicago, I took the day off of work and spent three hours waiting in line outside on the day tickets went on sale (it was February, and it was freezing) to get seats for the night of Friday, October 26th. It seemed so far away at the time, but this past weekend our show date finally arrived.

For those of you unfamiliar with the musical, it chronicles how four guys from New Jersey formed the group "The Four Seasons" and rose to fame. I won't spoil anything for anybody, of course, but it is actually quite a crazy story. I think that some people (my husband) went into the show thinking that it was just going to be song after song after song, but there actually is a riveting plot that is intertwined amongst shortened versions of the group's hits. I noticed when we walked into the theater that they had signs warning patrons about "smoke machines, flashing lights and profane Jersey dialogue." How hilarious is that? Apparently there is a completely different level of vulgarities that belongs just to New Jersey. But I applaud the show for "keeping it real." If you can put up with the swearing, then you will be able to enjoy some of the group's biggest hits. I guarantee you know at least one of their songs no matter how old or young you are: Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk Like a Man, My Eyes Adored You, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, and of course, December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night). There are many more besides those, too!

My parents, my husband and I greatly enjoyed the show Friday night. While I personally did not feel that the crowd in Chicago was as participatory as the crowd in New York had been (maybe it had something to do with the proximity to Jersey?), at the end everyone did stand up and dance and sing to Oh, What a Night. There was even a heated auction afterward for a page of Sherry sheet music that was signed by Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio--it went for $1,000!

Jersey Boys is touring around the country (and goes to London next year), so if you get a chance to catch it, I highly, highly recommend it. Even my husband, who was extremely skeptical about the show because he doesn't like what he terms "yaiiii yiiii yiiii music" (falsetto singing of lines like: "Bi-ig girls, they don't CRYYY YAAAIIIII YIIIIII!!!") was extremely impressed. You don't even have to take my word for it - the production won a ton of Tony Awards (including Best Musical). And if you watched The Emmy Awards this year, then you saw a short montage of clips from the musical during the tribute to The Sopranos. The guys who performed are the same cast I saw this past weekend.



I had been looking forward to the show for so long that now I'm a little bit depressed that it is over. But I can still rock out to their songs on my iPod and sing Who Loves You? to my dog when the mood strikes me (which seems to be at least once a day...).

- e

Finally, a Good Show

Shout-out to JC for reminding me that The Next Great American Band premiered last night. I remembered this show being touted as the last American Idol season drew to a close, and now it has finally arrived. And I dare say that my husband and I were loving it!

If it's not obvious already, TNGAB is basically American Idol for bands. Except there is a different host and different judges. Although I feared that they would be extremely annoying, they weren't at all. Dominic Bowden typically lives down in New Zealand with Frodo and Gandalf, where he is the host of New Zealand Idol. He is now trying to be the next Ryan Seacrest (which he pretty much admitted) by hosting TNGAB. We are exposed to another awesome accent courtesy of Ian "Dicko" Dickson, who is the Australian version of Simon Cowell - "the mean judge." Sheila E. (remember her from back in the day with Prince?) is much nicer to the contestants, but also actually knows her music and seems like a very cool person. The last judge was the worst part of the show for me - Johnny Rzeznik from the Goo Goo Dolls. I never liked his band and I cannot STAND his haircut or his wishy-washy personality. He needs to cut his freakin' bangs, stop sounding like a Valley Girl and grow a backbone.

The premiere lasted two hours and spanned three days of auditions out in the desert near Lake Las Vegas. It was 107 degrees! I remember being in Vegas when it was 110 degrees and I could barely stand walking outside between air-conditioned casinos for 5 minutes. To be up on stage, mostly clothed, playing a song like your life depended on it in that kind of heat? I couldn't do it.

Early on in the show, my husband and I groaned as a band of bare-chested, long-haired thirteen-year-old (and one twelve-year-old) boys were introduced. They were called Light of Doom, which I'm sure was intended to sound hard-core, but instead left me in stitches. However, when they busted out Flight of Icarus by Iron Maiden, the judges (who I could tell had also been prematurely writing LOD off) snapped to attention. These kids were good. They even did high-kicks while playing guitar, a move that we had to rewind and slow-mo to marvel at again after the show was over.

Another impressive band was The Clark Brothers, who reminded me of a cuter, older, country-version of Hanson. They didn't have a drummer or a bass player, but did play a mandolin and a dobro.


Finally, we also liked Sixwire. This group already had a recording contract in the past, but then their albums didn't sell, so they're hoping that being on national television changes the situation for them a bit. My husband commented that their sound was "tight," but all I could think about was how the lead singer looked like he could be Sawyer from Lost's older brother.


A much more in-depth recap and review of the show (which I agreed completely with) can be found here, if you want to be caught up for the next episode. MTV's review of the show includes some interesting information as well, and focuses on a few of the zaniest bands that were kicked off already.

If you enjoy American Idol and like music in the slightest, I highly recommend this show. It's in an unfortunate time slot on Fridays at 8 PM EST, but with Tivo it doesn't really matter, now does it?

Time to go sign up for the Light of Doom fan club...

- e

Radiohead to Music Industry: This is What You Get, When You Mess With Us

As some of you old-timers may remember, I went to a Radiohead concert last summer, as they are one of my favorite bands (and one of the only bands my husband and I actually both like) -- The Bends graces my 'top 5 favorite CDs of all time' list. While I definitely enjoyed the show, one of my complaints was that they played a bunch of songs that I didn't know. So now I feel all cool because I recognize many of those songs on their controversial new album, In Rainbows.

Their first release since 2003 isn't causing drama because of the actual songs, but rather, as I'm sure you've heard by now, because of the fact that they are directly distributing it to fans through a web site which lets the user determine how much to pay for it. My husband had already downloaded it and we've been listening to it for the past few days, but I decided this morning that I wanted to go through the beginning of the ordering process myself. Because I am a big nerd, I got a huge kick out of it. It's not the most user-friendly site in the world, but it is kind of funny. Once you order the download (there is also an option to order the physically delivered "discbox" (read: box set) for $80 that ships on December 3rd and includes the digital download as well) you can view your "basket" and then that's where you can enter in whatever price you deem the album worthy of, up to 99 British pounds (roughly $200). Next to the field where you enter in the amount, there is a question mark. When you click on it, you go to a screen that says, "It's up to you." And then there's another question mark, which links to another screen that insists, "No really, it's up to you." After chuckling at that, I went back to the shopping cart screen and entered in zeros for the price and then hit "Pay now." The next screen contained a message that read, "We value your custom. You are now in a queue," and it looked like it was starting to process something. So I hit the Back button on my browser and typed in "10" and hit "Pay now" and it went to a screen where you need to start entering in your information. Incredible. Now at least I know that the band "values the custom" of getting something for nothing.

So of course this play by Radiohead is scaring the crap out of the big music labels, because it's showing that they can be cut out of the picture. Radiohead's contract expired with their old label, EMI, in 2003, which is why they can now try out the direct distribution method. And since they're probably banking on a good percentage of their fans to cough up way more money than they would normally pay for a CD acquired by normal means just to send a message to The Man, there is really no risk for them to have tried this out. While both Prince and the band The Charlatans have employed similar "take our stuff for free" strategies before, nothing like this has been done on such a wide scale. As lauded by many critics, the move was pure marketing genius.

But what about the actual music? Is it even any good?

I don't claim to be a sophisticated music reviewer, I just know what I like. And I really like In Rainbows. I was going to list off the tracks I am digging the most, but then realized that they added up to about half of the album. Let's just say I like the slower ones better.

So what are you waiting for? Go get it! It's free!!!!

Or is it?

- e