Me, Egypt Central #1, #2, Haley, #3, Christina, #4, Pete and a guy that I apologize can't remember his name but is a graduate that came to help
I kept promising this post for a couple weeks now, but here it is finally. These are my pics and videos of what I did with my school, CSB, when we went to Pig’s Eye Pub in Hartford to record a few rock bands being interviewed and performing acoustic sets by Connecticut rock station The Rock 106.9 WCCC.
Prior to arriving, I knew nothing about any of these bands. Everyone at the school said that if you are asked to do anything with the school or go anywhere, just say yes. So I said yes. (more…)
Just because it’s everywhere… I’m talking about it here too.
I can’t say I’m a fan of this song. No doubt it’s catchy, but the lyrics are horrible. I’m not really blaming Rebecca herself, but really, can’t we come up with something better than “Fun fun fun fun”? This song is a prime example of extremely lazy writing. No imagine, no creativity, no fun whatsoever. There are way more things to sing about during your Friday than where you’re sitting in a car… unless, maybe the song was about a road trip. [Get's an idea for a song.]
I’m not even going to talk about the “rap” verse.
This song is definitely laughable, but like The Room, this movie will have a cult following. People love it because it’s bad. I might be part of that group. Will I be buying it on iTunes? Probably not. I don’t really wanna encourage this song to platinum status. And don’t expect this to be in any of my playlists either. Trust me, I have some “bad” songs on the ready, but mostly for my “part time DJ” gig requests… so unless someone requests it, I have no need for it.
I really could be cruel about “Friday” and as a certified critic, I have a right to be. I feel more comfortable making fun of this song than the antics of a certain fired actor who had been all over the web lately. Like someone else said, we thank Rebecca Black for making us focus on something less serious that’s going on in the world.
And Simon Cowell helped me realize how brilliant the song is. Sure it may only be a passing fade, but it’s something we might be looking back on in a few years as something we’ll look back on fondly. I hope it doesn’t haunt poor Becky in a negative way when she gets older. Seriously, I don’t. I also hope she doesn’t think the song is great… but I think she does.
And for the record, I don’t hate the song. I just think it’s ridiculous. I also find it hilarious how I helped fuel the flame and even got it stuck in a few friends’ heads.
Party on Ms. Rebecca Black! Don’t be offended if I don’t show up.
For the past week and a half, I keep going back to this voice. It feeds a certain part of my musical soul, it’s soothing and calming like a gentle breeze or a cool, but not too cold, refreshing glass of water. From her self titled album to The Sea, sometimes I can’t get enough of this artist that reminds me of a woodland nymph.
Why do I call the lovely and talented Corinne Bailey Rae a nymph? Let’s take a quick look at the definition of what a nymph is:
–noun
1. one of a numerous class of lesser deities of mythology, conceived of as beautiful maidens inhabiting the sea, rivers, woods, trees, mountains, meadows, etc., and frequently mentioned as attending a superior deity.
2. a beautiful or graceful young woman.
3. a maiden.
4. the young of an insect that undergoes incomplete metamorphosis.
Google her, she's gorgeous
Okay, so the 4th doesn’t apply to her… but I’m more interested in the first two. She definitely has a graceful and beautiful voice as well as being a beautiful woman. She also keeps that young look about her. I mean she in her 30s, but she looks like she’s in her 20s if not younger. Or is it just me? Her looks also remind me of a former girlfriend of mine of many years ago… I think… Wasn’t much of a singer though, but that’s another story. The point is, they both were insanely cute.
As for the woodland part, well, did you see the definition? The sea is in there and that was her second album! (As of right now, I’m not sure why it’s titled “The Sea” but based on album covers, the way her music flows, and just the nature about her, I can imagine her enjoying life to the fullest when she’s outside in nature… like a woodland nymph.)
"The Sea"
As I said earlier, her music is soothing and relaxing. I could easily enjoy driving around town listening to her as I would having her lullaby me to sleep. For safety reasons, I wouldn’t do both at the same time. But her voice seems to tread along with the instruments ever so gently, even if she’s singing with accompaniment at all… It’s just gorgeous to the ears.
Then there are the few songs that she kicks it up a few notches from soothing to sexy like one of my favorite songs “Closer.” The up-tempo jazziness of it all would make one want to get up and get their groove on a little. Don’t you think? Here’s the live rendition of that song.
As a side note, I’m a fan of many of the mainstream and more popular artists out there, but I seriously appreciate some of those who have raw and almost unseen talent like Corinne. I’m not saying no one knows about her, I’m just saying it’s too bad artists like these aren’t household names. But at the same time, I’m not too sad because it’ll like an awesome secret or an exclusive club. If you dig her music, you’re in the club… which is probably outdoors.
This might seem like an odd or obscure pick for me, only because of the video I’m posting along with it… which is why I’m posting two videos to explain why I chose this song. But then again, do I really need to explain my eclecticism? I listen to “odd” things all the time.
And how I found this song isn’t very odd at all. Like a good chunk of the music I like, I first heard it in a movie. Scott Pilgrim vs The World is where I heard “Teenage Dream.” And it was only the first few seconds! The rest of the song I got into and now it’s on my iPod. I came across the supposed music video of a “live” event by the artist known as T-Rex. Watch the video and you’ll understand why I put live in quotes.
He’s lip syncing. And that’s okay… I guess. What I found most amusing was his outfit, the gyrations, and the audience members. Who’s the dad sitting in the front? And what’s with the military officers in the back? I don’t know, but it amused me and was a gentle reminder that this was the weird times before my time known as glam rock. I’m not sure why but it’s now part of music history. The only glam rockers I was aware of was Queen, but now there’s this guy T-Rex. I’m not really trying to add more to my collection, I’m just stating a fact according to me. To be honest, this is borderline disco which already has it’s let’s-not-go-back-there vibes. I think it’s the fashion. But I’m sure my future kids will say the same thing to me about the 90′s and 00′s. I’m ready to defend some of it. But they will know I did not partake in skinny jeans nor will I ever.
Anyway, I’m avoiding going into a review of a new favorite movie Scott Pilgrim vs The World and what this song has to do with this movie. Hopefully I’m not spoiling too much by posting this if you haven’t seen the movie, but these scene is maybe about 1/3 of the way in. Not only is it a transition in scenes, but it’s also a transition in the story.
For those that haven’t seen it, trust me, I’m not really ruining a lot for you. There is still more awesomeness to be seen and story to tell. And those who have seen it, go see it again. I am. (Wish I saw it in theaters.) I’m stopping now before I go into review mode.
P.S.
Tomorrow at 5:55 PM I will have made my 25th trip around the sun. I’ll be watching Inception on a big screen with my friends and family to celebrate.
My fellow Indoobians! I wholeheartedly apologize for the lack of friPods last week and now this week. As I often say, and seemingly saying more often than just regular often, “life happens.” And life has been happening more than I can live. Okay, I’m not sure that even makes sense…
Just to update as to what in life is going on, I currently have about 3-4 jobs. I mention these on Twitter on occasion and refer to them as Job #1, #2 and #3.
Job #1 is the office job I’ve had for the past few years and as of about 2 years ago, I got the opportunity to work at home. It’s mostly pretty awesome, but it has it’s setbacks. For example, I don’t get snow days. Also, if the power goes out, I can’t escape from the darkness to my home because I’m already there. The pros outweigh the cons so I won’t bother finding other nuisances. Again, I like working at home. And only 2% of the time do I work in my pajamas. I get dressed because I’m anxious to get out of the house whenever I can.
Job #2 is my tech job at my church. It mostly started with being the A/V guy, which I’m really just the A because we haven’t gotten into V yet. But I take care of the audio equipment and make sure everything sounds nice. Due to our church growing and expanding into some other areas of business, I needed to take care of the computer situations. Not only have a been the techie for my family, but now I’m the go-to guy at my church. In a few weeks or so I’ll be starting a computer class for those who want to learn how to use these machines a little better. I’ve also recently acquired a projector, so that’ll make things easier for teaching purposes. Oh yeah, and I’m the webmaster too.
Job #3, which I’ve spoken very little about here, is my first freelance job for a local online newspaper called Patch. Maybe you’ve heard of it? I’ve written a few articles for them so far and have a few other plans lined up in the coming weeks. Being a freelancer, I’m not really on call that often, so it’s more of a part-time job. But when I am working, I put my all into it.
I’d like to add a job #4, but it’s kinda hard to call being a go-for a job? My family is very hard working and we are the central core to the church (my dad is the pastor). So whatever needs to be done, sometimes I’m the one that’s called. I spoke about this earlier this week. But between picking up items or people or working on routers or laptops, some of my off-time is filled with these odd jobs. And I’m not complaining about it, but it can be tiresome. Shoveling snow is at the bottom of the list of things I enjoy doing. Cooking dinner, pretty sweet. But hey, we gotta live!
So I said all that to say this: some weeks I just might not be able to get to do a friPod post as badly as I’d like to. Mostly because I don’t have the time. I really would like to start getting into making a few more videos, but recording them is one task, editing them is something else. I enjoy both, but I need a good hour. And unlike blogging, I’m not always in the mood to record and/or edit. But I did promise a video regarding my last friPod and I will deliver eventually. I will also continue my subject on neoretro-soul.
With that, I want you all to know I’m still dedicated to the Indoob, I just need to work on my time management skills. But now I’m off to work on a wireless router and maybe catch a local comedy show.
What’s up Indoobians? I thought I would have a video ready for you before the day ended, but that doesn’t look like the case. Perhaps I may get to post it tomorrow as a special late edition… or update and just add it to this. To make a long story short, I’ve have a busy day ending a very busy week.
Today, we’re talking about the great and finally appreciated Cee Lo Green. Just like in the video I was making, I made it a point not to talk about the summer smash viral hit that I’ll admit sounds less as awesome in its censored version. I like to keep my blog PG-13 at least (haha). Putting it another way, the album is greater than the one lone single. So if you like that song, I strongly suggest you listen to the rest of the song, and I’ll tell you why. (more…)
Instead of looking up on iTunes the most played songs, I’m going by feeling and memory (and past friPod posts of this year).
I can’t include albums of the past 2 months for the sole reason that they are too recent, even if I listened to said recent album on repeat for 10 hours on 3 consecutive days. I’m also aiming for albums and not necessarily singles that I’ve listened to repeatedly over the past year. Doing a singles list would be much more difficult. But on with the list (in no particular order this time)… (more…)
As promised, today’s friPod post is Christmas-themed. And once again, we’re taking a classic from my past. I grew up with this old California Raisin Christmas tape (that is as good as lost now) and sadly hasn’t been converted to CD (not one that I can find anyway). But their versions of some well known holiday songs are my favorite. And my one of my favorite of those favorites is John Lennon’s classic “Happy Christmas (War is Over).”
The cover version I have is difficult to find and I had my doubts YouTube would have it, but alas, here it is…
Like cover songs usually do, it preserves the same theme and meaning behind the song, promoting peace over war. And anyone that knows Lennon knows that a synonym of his name is “peace.” This song was written as a protest the Vietnam War going on at the time and has since become a holiday standard, being covered by various people and bands for the last few decades. I certainly haven’t heard them all, but so far, the Raisins are still my favorite. The reason why is due to that old school sound they have, that’s my guess anyway. But it’s also a classic for me. You always go back to what you know and love the best, and this was my first taste of this song.
So let’s remember to treat everyone with love and peace, not just during the holiday season, but everyday. It’s easier said than done, but with every one person you show respect to, that one difference you’ve made to make this world a better place. We’ve all got red blood and that makes us all equal, so a) let’s keep it in our body and b) let’s only hate those with green blood… they can’t be trusted. In short, no matter what you celebrate, let’s all agree: Peace on earth, and goodwill towards men.
For the record, the other song the Raisins did that I love is “Silent Night.”
With that, I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. I’m working on a special holiday post for tomorrow, so be sure to come back to check that out as well as a few other things I’ll be posting throughout the week including my Top Albums or Heavy Rotations of 2010.
Hey Indoobians, I apologize for depriving you of a friPod last week. I was on my retreat and didn’t have time prior to leaving to write one. Anyway, this is probably the song I would’ve wrote about since it’s been on heavy rotation for the past two weeks now. Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” There’s actually a handful of songs, but this is one of the first and the one I keep going back to.
This is also why I haven’t had any holiday Christmas songs featured here. No worries, I’ll have something next week.
But what’s so special about this song? Well… Have you heard it? I love listening to someone who can really sing. I love her earthy, almost kinda raspy voice, so full of soul. This song and a few others are like delicious food to my ears. I’m just eating it up as much as I can, which means they’re on repeat.
I’m also loving the instruments of this song, and as usual, how the drums really seem to bring the house down (which would sound like another pun if you watch the music video). But I had been listening to this song before the video came out and didn’t really have a video in mind. But the video is actually pretty nice, even if I don’t quite understand it either. Sometimes, you don’t really need an explanation, just go with it. Enjoy the beautiful imagery.
What the song is about is yet another woman scorned. A woman not taking her dirty rotten man sitting down (even though she’s sitting in the video). Basically, she’s saying “Get out of this house. You could’ve had a great life with me, but no, you had to go screw around and/or screw up and now you gotta go.” I didn’t quite get the understanding of the lyrics the first few times, I was too entranced by Adele’s voice and music and feeling my pant leg vibrate in the car thanks to the speaker in the car door that apparently has excellent bass.
I haven’t been that familiar with Adele’s work. I know she won a Grammy last year (or year before) for her debut album 19 and next month she’s releasing her next album 21. I haven’t heard a lot from her first, and I sampled a few on Amazon but I’m not sure yet. As for album #2, we’ll see.
In the meantime, I’m glad to see that this song is doing so well and is seeming as popular that it deserves to be. Yes, that comment could be an insult to someone I’m not naming… but I’m not sure who it is I’m not naming. But I’m not about those I hate, I’m all about love here… or at least I try to be. I can’t say the same for Adele and word to the wise… don’t ever cross her.
What’s up, Indoobians? I’ve been busier than ever, which seems to be turning into the usual for me now. But maybe we can place some of the blame on the holidays? A lot of people get busier this time of year.
I love this album cover.
In any event, while I remain running around, I had the opportunity to cash in on some online deals for a handful of new music. And when I mean handful, I feel probably about 100 new songs, more or less. So imagine how difficult it would be for me to choose just one song. Actually, those who know about my friPod past know I end up making playlists or calling out a particular artist, but I looked back on the past week to the songs I played the most… and coincidentally, the latest song I’m addicted to.
Maroon 5′s “Runaway” has become one of my favorites. I’ve been a fan some months after Songs About Jane album and each effort, to me, always has a mixed bag of take it or leave it music. Hands All Over is the same for me, but like all of their albums, they have some very big stand out tracks that I think some people will never hear on the radio or see on TV because they aren’t released as singles. I hear word that my other favorite “Stutter” will be released, so we can talk about that later.
But I’m struggling to figure out what it is I love so much about “Runaway” unless it’s just one of those songs, like food, it’s just good because it’s good. I’m not attached to the lyrics in any personal way, but I like them. I definitely enjoy the music. Perhaps it’s the energy? When I was younger, I didn’t like analyzing things that I really liked. And adults used this idea to market a cereal and they would try to figure out what was so special about the cereal that made the kids like it so much, and the kids response: “We just do.” So why do I love this song and have it on repeat this week? I just do.
That's all my babbles for tonight. I gotta make plans for tomorrow and get some sleep. 21 hours ago
That was the first bit of news I woke up to on Monday morning, and I wasn't sure if it was me waking up from deep slumber why I was confused 21 hours ago
Instead of looking up on iTunes the most played songs, I’m going by feeling and memory (and past friPod posts of this year).
