Guilty Pleasure

"Metal Mania" on VHI Classics - two hours of old videos by W.A.S.P., Queensryche, Dio, and lots of other has-beens and never-weres. I unashamedly turn it up, bang my head, and make the devil horn sign. I saw a lot of these bands in concert back in the day.

Capsule Reviews, Larry King-Style

R.E.M. used to be one of my absolute favorite bands. I've seen them three times. In the last few years, though, not only have I not bought their last few cds, I can't even listen to their newer songs on the radio - their new song, "Leaving New York" is no exception. They commit the ultimate musical sin: boredom.

Bowling For Soup sounds like they fit right into the goodcharlotteblink182sum41simpleplannewfoundglory pattern of indistinguishable pseudo punk rock bands, but I have to give them credit for one of the catchiest songs and funniest videos of the year with "1985." (Slight critique: I'm fairly sure that Blondie was no longer happening by 1985). Any band with a four hundred pound lead guitarist who calls himself Yngwie Van Halen is okay by me. And they sing the "Jimmy Neutron" theme.

Snow Patrol very much wants to be Coldplay, judging by the one song I've heard. I do like the song, though.

Gretchen Wilson should probably invest her money wisely.

Big & Rich seem crass and commercial in concept ("Hey, let's combine country and rap" - you had to see that coming....), but their cd is better than I would have imagined. John Rich is having the last laugh after being told that he was crazy for leaving wimpy country popsters Lonestar. One song on the cd reminds me of Hall & Oates (which, to me, is a good thing). Like Gretchen Wilson, though, they should probably save their money.

The Killers keep being referred to as "the new Duran Duran," which is not a positive thing. Still, "Somebody Told Me" is catchy is hell and I turn it up when it comes on.

KoRn's remake of "Word Up" seems rather pointless to me, but their cover of "Another Brick In The Wall" fits perfectly with Jonathan Davis's usual "I-hate-my-father" theme.

Britney Spear's remake of "My Prerogative" is also pointless - "Why don't they just let me be?" indeed. I wish "they" would. Here's hoping that her recently announced "break" is a lengthy one.

Switchfoot - I look at the Christian rock charts and then at the secular Rock Charts and I see a lot of the same bands. What exactly makes a band a Christian rock band if their lyrics don't seem to mention God, Jesus, religion in general, etc.? Evanescence got tagged with that label (mainly because they were on Creed's Wind-Up label) until their former guitarist/ songwriter Ben Moody stated in "Entertainment Weekly" that they didn't want to be known as a "fucking Christian band." Their cd disappeared from the Christian charts after that.

Scissor Sisters seem to me to be the second coming of Dexy's Midnight Runners.

U2's "Vertigo" rocks harder than anything they've done in a long time. Too bad they are using it to shill for iPod.

Maroon 5 are this year's Hootie & The Blowfish and they need to invest wisely, also.

Keane - I've only heard a couple of songs by these guys, but I like the songs - especially "Somewhere Only We Know". This is a great pop song; the singer sounds a lot like Eric Carmen (who led the Raspberries before he became Barry Manilow). The keyboard/drum/ no guitar gimmick has been tried before, though (Ben Folds Five) and has proven to be very limiting.

Nickelback sucks.

LL Cool J's "Headsprung" is an extremely catchy song - I crank this one up.

Nelly f Tim McGraw "Over And Over" - Why?

MTV Jams, MTV Hits, VH1 Soul, VH1 Country, and VH1 Hits are the best argument to me currently for digital cable over the Dish or DirecTV - and I had DirecTV for 7 or 8 years. These channels play videos ONLY - no annoying programs - and don't even have commercials. They are like MTV circa 1981-82. I frequently record blocks of programming overnight on the computer and then burn DVDs of only videos that I like. Very cool.

Milli Vanilli Redux

Moments ago, I just witnessed a total screw-up on Saturday Night Live. My daughter loves Ashlee Simpson, so I let her stay up to watch Ashlee on SNL. When it came time for her second song, a tape of Ashlee's first song started playing again and her confused band started playing it again. Ashlee walked offstage, and they cut to commercial. There had already been a slight screw up during the first song when Ashlee's taped vocal clashed with Ashlee's "real" vocal. Hilarious!!!

First

I've been planning to start a blog for awhile now, but the final catalyst came today when I wanted to post a comment on another blog and had to post as Anonymous because I wasn't a member. Although I spend a significant amount of time on computers, I am not technically savvy, so I haven't figured out the basics here yet. For instance, I don't see where I am supposed to add the "Personal Profile." So, let's get that out of the way with this first post - I'm 41. I live in Southeast Arkansas; I work for the state as a child support enforcement prosecutor. I've been married for 12 years; we have a nine year old son and a five year old daughter. We also have a 12 year old cat and an eleven year old cat. I'm fairly obsessed with pop culture, particularly music. I've played guitar in a band for nearly 20 years and I also work as a dj from time to time. I've been president of a local Kiwanis club, vice president of a local Chamber of Commerce, president of our local bar association, and a member of the board of directors of most local charitable organizations at one time or another. I was also chairman of our county Democratic Committee for ten years. When I left private practice to go to work for the state full time, I purposely withdrew from most organizations to spend more time at home.

I've really enjoyed reading the blogs of others lately, both local and not local, and I hope that I can return some of the enjoyment. I hope that this doesn't wind up coming across as an ego trip, but I enjoy writing and I write for myself. My posts aren't usually spontaneous - I edit, redraft, and fret over content before I hit "submit." I also notice that "legalese" slips into my writing from time to time - that's a by-product of my occupation (lots of "howevers" and "therefores").

I've been working on a personal project that I tentatively call "My Life In Music" where I write about significant events in my life that all seem to somehow be related to music. I will probably add snippets of that here from time to time; it is a work in progress.

Until I am more confident here, I doubt that I will notify anyone that I am doing this. We'll see.

Oh yeah, I think I am supposed to list favorite music, movies, books, etc - I always have a problem doing that. It's usually a long list. Instead of a current favorite band, I usually go through a "history" of my favorites - so: Buck Owens, the Osmonds, Elton John, Kiss, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Rush, Peter Frampton, Van Halen, the Clash, the Ramones, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Prince, R.E.M., the Replacements, Husker Du, Camper Van Beethoven, Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth, Guns n Roses, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Public Enemy.....well that takes me from age 6 to my mid 30's, anyway. Currently, I very much like Drive By Truckers and could kick myself for not going to see them last week. I really, really enjoy my XM radio, too.

My all-time favorite movie is This Is Spinal Tap. My favorite authors over the years have been Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving, but I am more partial to pop culture reference books and pop music biographies and autobiographies.

I'm not a big sports fan and I don't hunt, so I automatically am removed from the primary interests of many people in my area. My wife, on the other hand, is a rabid Razorback fan and she scares the children and the cats when a game is on with loud outbursts of profanity.

That's my introduction. More to follow.....maybe.