57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. CXLIV

Quote of the Week: Hey Seth, South Park called, they want their everything back. (Jeff Ross – The Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff)

Song of the Week: Hooked On a Feeling - Blue Swede (as sung by David Hasselhoff, The Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff)

Big News of the Week: It’s Allergy Season: There are very things I hate more than allergy season. I just want to stay in bed until the first frost.

Leverage: Two themes are emerging from this season; the plot either revolves around daddy issues or a ripped from the headlines stories. This week was the latter but I assume due to budgeting, I assume they moved an off shore drilling explosion into a mine because the explosion was already pretty lame. Too bad there isn’t a real Leverage team to get payback on BP for raping the environment. You can stream recent episodes on TNT.tv. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.

Rescue Me: I never thought Needles had that in him. But I wonder if there will be repercussions from above like the other captain makes it sound like (my guess is yes). And Tommy just cannot be content, I never thought the Sheila moratorium would last, but I thought it would go past one hour. And Janet should deserve some blame as she should have realized that the “goodbye” wouldn’t go well. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Rescue Me on iTunes.

Covert Affairs: Another Joe McCoy red herring. When he popped up earlier this season on The Closer I would have bet he was the killer of the week, but alas he wasn’t. Then this week I would have bet he was going to turn out to be the leak, but of course he just turned out to be another horny Congressman (and I assume a Democratic one because most Republican sex scandals involve dudes). You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Covert Affairs on iTunes.

Free Download of the Week: White Lies - Stacy Clark (iTunes): For fans of peppy pop and if you enjoy this song, there is another song from Stacy Clark on the Vanguard Records Sounds of Summer Sampler) which I mentioned a couple weeks ago.

Deal of the Week: Save on DVDs from the Stars of The Expendables (Point Break, multiple Rambos, Terminator 2)

Video of the Week: Not once, but twice, I saw a trailer this week and though “this reminds me of Showgirls.” Maybe not the best sign of things to come at the local multiplex. First, and most obvious Showgirls rip of is Burlesque which features Christina Aguilera’s acting debut and Kristen Bell. Looking at the tailer, it looks like we will finally get the answer to what Showgirls would look like would if it were written by a gay dude.

Burlesque Trailer


And the next one is a little bit of a stretch, but I guess it is the whole dancer gets replaced plot, but I get strong Showgirls vibe from Black Swan, the thriller from the dude who have us The Wrestler and stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Of course this movie would be from the Gina Gershon perspective. And what the frack is with that last scene in the trailer?

Black Swan Trailer


Next Week Pick of the Week: Memphis Beat, Tuesday at 10:00 on TNT: Memphis Beat never quite win me over, and it didn’t help being on at the same time as Rescue Me and Covert Affairs, but maybe I will catch up now that the season is ending this week.

Around the Tubes vol. LXIII

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Friday Night Lights, If God Is Willing and da Creek Won’t Rise, Eastbound and Down, Modern Family, DVD2Blu, Bond of Silence, and Richard Petty.

- If you have ever wondered why I go on and on about Friday Night Lights but found it too cumbersome to catch up, ABC Family recently bought the syndication rights and will start airing the show from the beginning starting Tuesday September 7 at 6:00. Below is the poster hyping the premiere.



- A couple years ago, Spike Lee made a Katrina related documentary When the Levees Broke and now of the fifth anniversary of the Hurricane he is revisiting the subject with If God Is Willing and da Creek Won’t Rise focusing on the recovery in New Orleans and the recent oil spill. The two night event starts Monday with the second part on Tuesday, both at 9:00 on HBO. Below is a trailer:

Trailer

- In other HBO news, Eastbound and Down returns for its second season September 26 at 10:30 and here is a teaser:



- It would seem like a no brainer that Modern Family should take home the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy in that is the funniest show nominated. But over at the Daily Beast, they still have to explain why Modern Family Should Win an Emmy Over Glee.

- For those that have upgraded to Blu-Ray recently but do not want to spend all that money upgrading your DVD collection should head over to DVD2Blu which lets you exchange your DVD’s for a much cheaper than buying a Blu-Ray new. And now the program has some TV sets available for exchange such as Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Smallville and The Sopranos.

- The latest Lifetime movie premieres this Monday at 9 and stars Kim Raver (24) and Greg Grumberg. Here is a sneak peak of Bond of Silence:

Bond of Silence Preview


- This is more for you out there south of the Mason-Dixon Line (as country and auto racing doesn’t play as well up here), though if you were on the winning side of the Civil War, you may still find this video of six foot six Trace Adkins trying to get in a NASCAR entertaining.

Trace Adkins Is Stick and Richard Petty Won’t Help!

Can I Come Home for the Summer, I Could Slow Down for a Little While

In a story I broke yesterday, John Mellencamp has a new album out and it is boring (see I’m not Falling up the Ladder), a claim made because the new blood of folk has made the genre much more interesting in the past decade than the Mellencamp disk has to offer. Another of those previously mentioned new bloods is the mountain man looking Ray LaMontagne (whose song Trouble was perfectly used in the commercial with the dog trying to hid his bone safely, maybe not a good ad from the company’s perspective because I cannot recall off the top of my head).

Unlike other folk revivalist recently that take a more rock approach, LaMontange fuses his folk with a heavy dose of blue eyed soul. But Ray took a dip into the bland with his last album Gossip in the Grain with almost every song in the set sounding like we have heard it before. Thankfully for his follow up Ray hook thing up by adding a backing band, the Pariah Dogs, to the equation that brought him out of rut much like when Ryan Adams brought together the Cardinals.

The new album God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise starts out with the very un-Ray like blues meets funk grooves of Repo Man before settling into familiar territory with New York City’s Killing Me for those that are dawn to LaMontange’s more sensitive tracks. New York instantly rivals Trouble as one of his best tracks in his catalogue. That is followed up with the just as strong title track with is waltzing slide guitar opening. Another standout track from the album is the breezy Beg Steal or Borrow which sees LaMontange sing in a mid tempo song that you could mistake for a Nick Drake cover.

Song to Download – New York City's Killing Me

God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I’m not Falling up the Ladder

Bands like The Avett Brothers have shown that folk music doesn’t have to be boring. And we can trace back the resurrection of that upbeat folk rock back to the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack that earned producer T-Bone Burnett multiple Grammy Awards. Even Bruce Springsteen brought plenty of energy to his Seeger Sessions album that covered songs from folk icon Pete Seeger.

With all that in mind, the latest folk album from John Mellencamp is pretty bland considering that other contemporary folk albums of the past decade even with No Better Than This being produced by Burnett. Mellencamp recently said he is done being a rock star, and it sounds is if he purposely decided to have no to little fun on the new album and not even in a dark way like his last album Life, Death, Love and Freedom. No Better Than This is just bland.

The album doesn’t do any justice to the places where Mellencamp recorded the songs. While on his minor league baseball park tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, Mellencamp would take detours to record in places like Sun Studio, the former home of Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, and even the Sheraton Gunter Hotel where Robert Johnson recorded some of his legendary tunes.

Mellencamp and Burnett even recorded much like in those landmarks’ heyday on an old Amplex reel-to-reel tape recorder in mono. But it sounds as if he was trying too hard to recreate that fifties feel that he forgot to add some passion because that isn’t exclusive attribute to a folk star. As Mumford & Sons show, you can be passionate about making folk music too.

Song to Download - Each Day of Sorrow

No Better Than This gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television: Mumford & Sons Edition

Every once and a while I get totally enamored with a band and my current obsession is Irish act Mumford & Sons. They remind me of an Irish version of The Avett Brothers who invented the folk/punk genre with a heavy dose of emotion. And Mumford and Sons do it without a traditional drummer. The band has gone platinum two times over in their native country but hasn’t caught on here stateside since their album Sigh No More was released. Only Little Lion Man has been released over here as a single (note to those with virgin ears, you may want to skip this song for its heavy use of a certain naughty word), but thanks to the internets, you can check out all four videos that have dropped in Great Britain below.

Little Lion Man




Winter Winds




The Cave




Roll Away Your Stone

Lyrics Quiz: Greatest Lyrics of the 00's part 2

Last month I started off my first part of the Greatest Lyrics of the 00’s (there are still three songs left to be guessed) and here is the second half. As always leave your guesses, both artist and song title, in the comment section or e-mail me. If you are correct I will un-bold the lyric. Please keep in mind the lyrics quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please only use your own meandering mind to guess them. Now onto the lyric quiz:


1. You’re wack, you’re twisted, you’re girl’s a (expletive deleted). You’re broke, kid ain’t yours and everybody knows.
2. If I go crazy would you still call me Superman? (Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down; guessed by Doug)
3. Home hard to know where it is if you never had one. Home I can’t say where it is but I know I’m going home; it’s where the heart is. (Walk On - U2; guessed by Angie)
4. I’m just straight ill riding my motorcycle down the street. While politicians is sounding like hookers to me. (Lapdance - N.E.R.D.; guessed by Doug)
5. I’m not gonna diss you on the internet, ‘cause my momma taught me better than that. (Survivor - Destiny's Child; guessed by Doug)
6. His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There’s vomit on his sweater already: mom’s spaghetti. (Lose Yourself - Eminem; guessed by Doug)
7. Left the house this morning, bells ringing filled the air. Wearing the cross of my calling, on wheels of fire I come rolling down here. (The Rising - Bruce Springsteen; guessed by Angie)
8. You must wanna be in the Guinness Book of World Records as the dumbest (expletive deleted) alive.
9. Well as for now I’m gonna hear the saddest songs and sit alone and wonder how you’re making out.
10. If Mary drop my baby tonight, I would name her Rock and Roll. (The Seed (2.0) - The Roots and Cody ChestnuTT; guessed by Doug)
11. You know the type, load as a motorbike, but wouldn’t bust a grape in a food fight. (99 Problems - Jay-Z; guessed by Doug)
12. If you wrote me off, I’d understand it. ‘Cause I’ve been on some other planet.
13. Sing like you think no one’s listening. You would kill for this, just a little bit.
14. I’m so moving on. (Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson; guessed by Angie)
15. MC Escher that's my favorite MC. Keep your 40 I'll just have an Earl Grey tea. My rims never spin to the contrary you’ll find they're quite stationary. (White & Nerdy - "Weird Al" Yankovic; guessed by Angie)
16. When you trust your television, what you get is what you got. Cause when they own the information, they can bend it all they want. (Waiting On the World to Change - John Mayer; guessed by Angie)
17. It’s a sad, sad story when a mother will teach her daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger. And how in the world can the words that I said send somebody so over the edge? (Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks; guessed by Doug)
18. She was the type to watch Oprah and the Today Show. Be on the treadmill, uh, like OK-Go. (Drivin' Me Wild - Common and Lily Allen; guessed by Rose)
19. There were people from the city having lunch in the park. I believe that’s called alfresco.
20. I ain’t gonna make the same mistakes that put my momma in her grave. I don’t wanna be alone.
21. I’ve been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror. And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer. But my breath fogged up the glass so I drew a new face and I laughed. (I'm Yours - Jason Mraz; guessed by Doug)
22. What am I supposed to talk about with you anyway? I graduated the year you were born and I don’t wanna have to drive around and listen to your burned CD’s through your (expletive deleted) car speakers of every band you think you discovered. It’s just gonna make me insecure. (The Weight of Her - Butch Walker; guessed by Angie)
23. There are times when the poets and porn stars align and you won’t know who to believe in, well that’s a good time to be leaving. (Shine - Anna Nalick; guessed by Angie)
24. I got seniority, with the sorority. So that explains why I love college. Getting brain in the library ‘cause I love knowledge when you use your medulla oblongata. (Make Her Say - Kid Kudi, Kanye West and Common; guessed by Rose)
25. Somewhere we went wrong, our love is like a song but you won’t sing along. Have you forgotten about us? (Don't Forget - Demi Lovato; guessed by Angie)