Tag: Music

  • Earworm Wednesday: It Wasn’t Because of the Models

    When George Michael’s “Freedom!” came out, it sounded different from everything else that was out there. All these years later, it still sounds fresh, new and current.

  • Earworm Wednesday: Not the Happiest Song

    Somewhere around 1998 or 1999, I friend of mine gifted me a very, very bootleg copy of a bunch of Radiohead singles that weren’t on any of their albums. I love Radiohead, and I like how their music just doesn’t fit in any one box, and same goes for their fans, to be honest.

    All of the singles on the bootleg were awesome, but one stood out to me as being the most melancholic of a downer song imaginable, and I loved it! What hooks me is the very beginning of the song – it’s just hypnotic.

    Oh, and I can only listen to this song a hand full of times in a week, or it starts to make me depressed. So, you have been warned and handle with care.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Proof of Workouts, Sitting Still, and Goodbye Playlists/Hello Albums

    ODDS and ENDS: Proof of Workouts, Sitting Still, and Goodbye Playlists/Hello Albums

    (And Sunday always come too late…)

    Four people in a car driving through a forest with vibrant fall colors, all cheering and smiling
    A happy group enjoys a fun autumn drive surrounded by colorful fall foliage.

    My kid doesn’t believe that I do exercises. She knows I go to the gym, as she’s seen me do it. What she doesn’t believe is that, while she’s at school, I doo push-ups, sit-ups, and squats at home. She wants my wife, her mother, to take pictures or shoot a video of me working out at home. I don’t know how to feel about my child doubting me on this matter. Is she saying that I would lie about this? Or is she saying that there has been no progress in my size, so I must be lying? Or is she just making fun of me?

    We rented a place in Vermont over Memorial Day weekend, and we all had a good time. One thing that I noticed about myself was that I had a very difficult time just sitting still, being quiet, and not moving. The whole family has been under a great deal of stress this Spring, with jobs and school, and life in general, so the break was needed. But, with my inability to just be calm of twenty minutes, I started to wonder if I have burned myself out, and started to get use to feeling edgy all the time; as if stress is my default state, and I need to constantly engage in something.

    See, when we were driving back to New York City from Vermont over Memorial Day, we got stuck in some pretty bad traffic around Albany, and we started getting bored with our playlists. So, the wife asked what album did I want to listen to. The first thing that popped into my head was “Achtung Baby” which she put on, and it still holds up as a great album. Then the wife suggested “Ten” which was awesome to listen to as well. The kid wanted to listen to “Guts” which we all enjoyed. When we made it home, we decided that for this summer, for all of our road trips, we are only going to listen to albums. I had forgotten how much fun it was to road trip and go from album to album. Not since the days that I had a cd player in my car, had I done this.

  • Earworm Wednesday: It is a Magic Number

    I wasn’t the biggest Blind Melon fan when they were around, but I didn’t have a problem with them. It was a tragedy when their lead singer Shannon Hoon died of an overdose, as I think the band still had years of good work ahead of them.

    A little treasure of a song they recorded for the “Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks!” tribute album was “Three is a Magic Number,” which has been played in my home since the day we brought our daughter home from the hospital. There are lots of ear hooks in this song, but for me, it’s the drums that get stuck in my head.

  • Earworm Wednesday: The New York Stones

    I had a friend, who fancied himself the end all be all final word which was handed down from God on everything music, and to that end, the disco/New York Rolling Stones were the worst, according to him. What were the New York Rolling Stones, you ask? He would claim three albums made up this period; Some Girls, Emotional Rescue, and Tattoo You. Sure, he’s say, there were a couple of good songs in there, but on the whole, they sucked.

    I disagreed. In fact, I loved this period for the Stones. “Miss You” is one of my favorite songs of their’s and the reason is Bill Wyman’s disco bass. His playing is iconic, and a little gem of disco bass that just grooves into your head and won’t leave.