On my iPod I have a playlist called Heart Pumpers, and much like the title suggests it is full of songs whose main purpose is to get the blood flowing while on a run, exercising or getting ready for a competition. Featured in this playlist are multiple songs from the Foo Fighters including My Hero, All My Life and Best of You. I may just have to add the band’s latest single, The Pretender which in no way embodies the characteristics of the album’s title, Echo, Silence, Patience & Grace, with its crushing guitars and unconformist lyrics that could get anyone ready to go into battle after melodic start of song.
The guitars don’t get turned down after the bombast of The Pretender as it is followed by a few more straight ahead rockers that should get plenty of play on rock radio over the next year including Let it Die and Erase/Replace. It is then almost a relief when the more melodic Long Road to Ruin, think a pessimistic version of Times Like These, shows up. From there the album goes back and forth between songs that would be on opposite disks of the double album In Your Honor and definitely benefits from the blend over the previous outing.
There are some curveballs on the album including the tongue in cheek title of Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running) that takes pot shots at the emo bands that dominated radio the past years. Of course Dave Grohl and company are having the last laugh as they are still relevant as the emo fad seems to be fading. But the oddest of them all is Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners written by Grohl after meeting a survivor of the mine’s collapses and swore to him he would record the song and being a man of his word, here it is. Some might complain the finger picking instrumental but it is a good diversion for the album.
What is missing from Echo, Silence, Patience & Grace a slowed down more poppier song in vein of Big Me, Walking After You, or Next Year. There are some attempts here but Stranger Things Have Happened, Summer’s End and the album closer Home just fall short of the greatness of previous tracks except But, Honestly with its slow build to an all out rocker. They do try to switch it up a little with a song like Statues which sounds like an American response to the British Invasion of the sixties. But the second half of the album as a whole just suffers from not having any songs to connect to.
Remember the catchphrase from what I think was the eighth installment of the Lethal Weapon franchise when Danny Glover (or was it Mel Gibson) said, “I’m getting too old for this (expletive deleted)!” Well that is how I have felt after ever Video Music Awards since, um, when was the last time Chris Rock hosted? But I thought this year was different when the show was announced thanks to scheduled performers Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse. Apparently MTV got word of this and since they have been trying very hard to keep anyone that is actually older than they are, both ended up not being able to make it to the show.
And so went the interest as most anyone who isn’t a fourteen year old white girl that still thinks Fall Out Boy are cool. But in the end I guess it is good that neither made it because they probably would have just been relegated to singing for thirty second with Mark Ronson before MTV cut to commercial. Seriously, if I wanted to hear less than a minute of a song I’d watch TRL. Eighteen different acts were featured but only five get to perform a full song. Why bother? Apparently you can watch all the suite performances at MTV.com but you might as well wait until someone rips the best to mp3. Here are some other thoughts on the show:
- We start off with the fairly worthless pre-show where they roll out John Norris again. Did this guy sign some sort of life-long contract? MTV has a stricter age limit than Menoudo yet he still gets rolled out every year with his boyband circa 1999 haircut. And there is something to say that even though T.I. was in the building, he didn’t bother to show up for the chick from the Pussycat Dolls performance, who relied heavily on guided vocals, even though he appeared on the song.
- The big show started of with the much hyped Britney Spears performance and despite with expectations were so low she could walk over the bar, she still found a way to slither under it. Now I have never watched America’s Got Talent, but her performance is what I would imagine what a Britney impersonator’s that was let on the show just so the Hoff would have something to laugh at would look like. She didn’t bother to lip-sync half the time and was a half to full step behind her back up dancers half the time and looked lost half the time. But I guess it would be hard to remember the steps and to move your lips when you spent three minutes trying to hold in your gut. Note to Britney: fat people don’t walk around in their bra and panties. Yeah you could have pull that look off thirty pounds ago but you now either need to put some clothes on or work in a thousand sit ups a day.
- MTV seriously dropped the ball with the opening. They usher out a train wreck that hasn’t been musically relevant for half a decade for an embarrassing performance when they should have convinced Vanessa Hudgens open the show asking the crowd, “heard any good jokes lately?” (Thanks to everyone who pointed out why people she all the sudden became the most popular search to the 9th Green). Everyone would have talked around the watercooler today how great the opening was instead of how horrible it was. Well actually most of the watercooler talk today was, “wait, the VMA’s were last night?”
- Apparently MTV had a contingency plan in case the Brittney performance died like it did with Sarah Silverman coming out to make fun of her. Granted the best line was, “that’s not nice calling Madonna a python” as well as her backhanded comments to Paris Hilton who once again tried to look upset before breaking out laughing.
- Rihanna wins the Monster Single of the Year as well as the monster cleavage of the year award.
- Jennifer Hundson (as Alicia Keys calls her) comes out to give the most worthless award of the night, the quadruple threat award. Since when is having a clothing line a threat?
- Holy Pat Smear sighting!
- Kanye West and 50 Cent come out to hype their release date. I have said this before and I will say it again, for the love of hip-hop be sure to pick up Graduation this week so 50 retires for coming in second. Anyone find it interesting that no one even mentions Kenny Chesney who has a legitimate chance to outsell either of the rappers. Don’t underestimate the buying power of hillbillies. But any ways. Be sure to look out for my Kanye review tomorrow and 50 on Wednesday.
- Forty-five minutes into the award show and we get our first full performance by Chris Brown who did a much better job lip-syncing that Britney. But that really say much about it. But is does say something that Rihanna stole the show from him.
- Justin Timberlake’s music sucks massively and acts like a complete tool ninety-five percent of the time but I like his blast at MTV and their reality programming while accepting an award from The Hills (but I’d like to state for the record that I would definitely stand underneath the brunette’s umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh). But then lost points when saying that The Simpsons were part of MTV’s reality programming.
- Seriously, Cee-Lo singing Prince while being backed by the Foo Fighters only gets thirty seconds of airtime?
- I must take this time to apologize to CBS for creating the most appalling reality show ever with Kids Nation. I didn’t realize MTV would counter with A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila (whoever that is), your token Bachelor rip-off but with sixteen lesbians and straight dudes. But there is something to say that both channels are owned by the same company (keep in mind this is also the same company that axed Veronica Mars).
- Are we really supposed to believe Shia LeBeouf didn’t really have express written consent to reveal the new Indiana Jones title (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). That is just insulting our intelligence.
- Who keeps inviting Pamela Anderson to these things? She and Carmen Electra should be well into their begging to get on the Surreal Life point in their life but somehow they still get on big name events. What’s worst is supposedly she is the reason for the most interesting thing that happened all night (Kid Rock sucker punching Tommy Lee) and MTV didn’t even bother to air it.
- Speaking of overrated chicks, Megan Fox may be one of the few people that rival Anderson in that category. She announces Timbaland who does some weird thing before tossing it to Linkin Park. What was that? Why even bother? Why not just have Fox toss to Linkin Park. Timbaland is just completely worthless.
- During the pre-show Rihanna mentioned she was going to rock out tonight and I thought maybe she would be backed by New Order (Shut Up and Drive samples Blue Monday), but now it is just Fall Out Boy who just took home Best Group. Yawn.
- Alicia Keys adds some class to program even if she was wearing that looked like Olivia Newton-John combined her wardrobe from the final scene from Grease and the Physical video. The new song was decent, but I’m not sure where I come down on Freedom ’90. I was hoping that maybe she would bring out George Michaels but alas no.
- Jamie Foxx comes out to show everyone how much he has had to drink while in Vegas then shuts ups just long enough for Jennifer Garner announce the Best New Award as Gym Class Fallout. Yeah, that seems just about right.
- MTV then rolls out a week old joke that really wasn’t that funny a week ago in the Miss Teen South Carolina who flubs while pretending to flubs. Nice. At least she gave the Wu-Tang Clan a shout out.
- The big surprise guest of the night is Dr. Dre (who is disturbingly showing his age). No he didn’t perform or even receive a Lifetime Achievement Award or anything interesting, no he is just relegated to handing out Video of the Year to Rihanna.
- The show ends with Nelly Furtado, Timberlake and Timbaland each performing a verse from their latest song before getting together as the song they did together start only for the track to stop so abruptly that Timbaland had to inform everyone five seconds later that that’s the end of the show. How apropos of an end.
- I’m really getting too old for this (expletive deleted).
To get you to read this whole post, somewhere I tell how to get a free song from a major artist with an album coming out.
September starts up this weekend which means record companies are stacking their release schedule in hopes for your Christmas dollars. Well the first Tuesday is pretty bleak with nothing but a reissue of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn headlining the week, but after that it is nothing but big names until Thanksgiving. Much like every Fall Music Preview past I have to give my obligatory the three quarters of the year sucked massively with only a few bright spots, most notably from English chicks with problems (i.e. Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse). But the few bright spots were overshadowed by some monumental disappointment (i.e. Kelly Clarkson, Fall Out Boy, Maroon 5, Smashing Pumpkins, Trapped in the Closet, rap music in general).
Here is a look at some artists who hope to turn the record company’s success around, many of which will have their albums reviewed here. If you are interrested in preordering the albums from Amazon, the link on the album name will take you their, the links on artists names will take you to their iTunes page. If I left one of your favorite artists off the list with an upcoming album feel free to drop me a comment or feel free to wax poetic in the comment section on which albums you are looking forward to. (Note: release dates subject to change)
September 11
Graduation - Kanye West: As mentioned earlier, rap music in general hasn’t been very good this year, but if there is someone who can change that it will be the guy who released the two best rap albums this decade. Although I am a little worried about the T-Pain and Lil’ Wayne cameos. See the side bar to preorder Graduation on iTunes.
Curtis - 50 Cent: Nothing says I completely sold out more that a Justin Timberlake appearance. 50 said he would retire if Kanye out sold him which should be enough reason to pick up Graduation this week. Preorder Curtis on iTunes.
September 18
Drastic Fantastic - KT Tunstall: Tunstall is one o four artists that can boast they receive a Severe rating on my Terror Alert so my expectations are high for her sophomore outing. Granted after hearing the first single my expectations dropped just a little. Preorder Drastic Fantastic on iTunes.
Last of Seven - Pat Monahan: The dude from Train with a solo album? Well the dude from Matchbox Twenty had a few hit so I guess why not.
Playlist - Babyface: Remember when Babyface was the biggest R&B songwriter. I won’t a correlation that the genre has pretty much sucked since he went out of demand. Now ‘Face is trying out other’s material with a cover album including the James Taylor classic Fire and Rain.
September 25
Echo, Silence, Patience and Grace - Foo Fighters: I can’t say I have bought a Foo Fighters album since the first one, but that is not to say they don’t have plenty of songs I love. And the first single, The Pretender definitely rocks hard. Preorder Echo, Silence, Patience and Grace on iTunes.
Songs About Girls - Will.i.am: I was a big Black Eyed Peas guy back in the day. Then the Fergie era was ushered in and they have sucked ever since. So this should be interesting to see if Fergie is like good music kryptonite and take her out of the equation and Will be entertaining again or has she tainted him forever.
October 2
Magic - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Remember at the top of the post you could get a free song from a major artist, well that is from none other than Bruce and company. Click on Radio Nowhere and download the first single off the album for free on iTunes. Yeah this is cool but it is a safe assumption I am going to buy the whole album anyway, but will be able to jam to the song for a month before the album comes out but you can always pre-order the album while you are picking up the single now. Get song now because it stops being free at the end of this week
As an added bonus, you can also get the new Paul McCartney single, Nod Your Head as well as the video (which is prett cheesy) for the song for free too.
Revival - John Fogerty: October 2nd is like September 11th for old white dudes with the Boss taking on the Creedence Clearwater Revival front man. Well accept it is obvious who will take the top spot this week.
Live Earth: Interesting that the track listing hasn’t been released yet so I bet there are some licensing issues which may leave some great performances off the disk (are the Rolling Stones trying to get too much money for the Gimme Shelter performance?). The only confirmed song is John Mayer’s Waiting on the World to Change. Preorder Live Earth on iTunes.
October 9
Rock and Roll Jesus - Kid Rock: My sources tell me this album, his first in four years, six since anyone cared, will be more rock than rap. The first single, So Hot is pretty forgettable. Maybe he should hook back up with Sheryl Crow and target the soccer mom again.
Heroes and Thieves - Vanessa Carlton: I’m a little torn on her comeback. On one hand I love her first album (indifferent to the second) but they she went and signed with The Inc (formerly Murder Inc) and Irv Gotti is helping produce the album.
The Black and White Album - The Hives: The group may have recorded one of the best one hit wonders of the decade but it looks like this is their attempt to wipe that title from their résumé.
Click the link to see part 2 of my 2007 Fall Music Preview. And again if I missed anything let me know or just comment on what you are looking forward to.
There were a bunch of great performances at Live Earth but there is one that I have been listening to on repeat the last couple days and that is the new song that Alicia Keys unveiled during her set, That’s the Thing about Love. Unfortunately it looks like we will have to wait until late October until we can hear a more polished studio version when her new album is scheduled to drop, until then here is the YouTube version of the performance at Live Earth:
It popped up over the weekend that there will be a best of the Live Earth album that will be put out in August which you can preorder on iTunes (if you do so you will get the John Mayer track now, also Metallica’s full set is available separately). Although there is currently no confirmed tracks (aside from Mayer’s) so here is my suggestion of the top twenty songs from the event (links go to YouTube):
Agree, disagree, well vote or add your favorites to the Unspun widget below:
Okay, now on to what Live Earth was really about, doing your part to saving the environment. You might think to yourself living a green life is a daunting task, well I am certainly no tree hugging hippie, in fact I am extremely lazy, but I realized that I already do some of the things that they suggested thought Saturday’s festivities. Seriously, if this lazy bum can do these things to help out than certainly you can add these to your daily routine. Even if you don’t care about the environment, do these why I do them, almost all of these suggestion will save you money:
- Change to Energy Efficient Light bulbs - Yeah they cost a little more but I saw a noticeable drop in my electricity bill when I switched just three bulbs. Really you should buy any and all energy efficient products, TV’s, toilets, computers, radios, etc.
- Use Sunlight During the Day - Unless there is a storm brewing, all window drapes are open there isn’t a light on from sun up to dun down
- Change the Thermostat When You Leave - In the summer during turn the air conditioning down a couple degrees, turn heat up in the winter. In the winter, I even do this when I sleep so I can bundle up in a couple more blankets
- Boil Only the Water You Need - I was surprised when this was suggested during the telecast because I though it was a no brainier but apparently people boil more than they need. This is just laziest, and that says a lot considering I been called the laziest person some people have ever met
- Flip Off Your Power Strip - Here is one that I have started after seeing it on Live Earth as I have three big power drains with all its accessories plugged into a power strip (computer, two TV sets). I plugged a VCR into the wall because that is my clock in that room, but everything else is plugged into the strip which I flip off when the stuff isn’t in use. I’m not entirely sure how much energy/money I have saved by doing this, but long if it is something it will be worth the one second it takes to flip it on and off.
Today is the Live Earth Concerts and since it is supposed to top out at around 90 here today, I thought I would try live blogging for the very first time. You can stream the Live Earth concerts on MSN.
Scooter Update: It is the day after and I have a few more thought on things I didn't get to or didn't see yesterday.
- The Police get great closing out the show. Not that surprising when they brought out John Mayer, who has been known to do an version of Message in a Bottle in concert. But the big surprise was when Kanye West popped up. Yeah the rap was kind of lame with lines like "Sting is the only police cool in the hood" and it was obvious that it wasn't Sting's idea to have him as he mispronounced his name (Kane-ye). But it was a cool way to end the show.
- Roger Waters with the rest of Pink Floyd was a huge letdown even with the weird "Save Our Sausage" pig balloon (get it, because SOS was a running theme and sausage is made from pigs part of Pink's imagery? Oh never mind). It was cool when he brought out the children's choir for Another Brick in the Wall until the chorus hit and you realized that they weren't miked up and they were piping in the album version.
- Who had the Smashing Pumpkins being the only artist (that I saw) to shameless promote their album? Then to make it worse Billy Corgan went on to insinuate the band lackluster sales in the late nineties were because of illegal downloading. No Billy, it was because the product wasn't very good. And it looks like Billy recruited yet another female bassist, his third for the band) and this new one is definitely the most attractive one, you know, in a creepy goth kind of way.
- Shakira straighting her hair: upgrade.
- Unless I missed it, it was nice to see Rihanna skipped her new single Shut Up and Drive. It was silly enough to have a car company sponsor the event. But I'm not sure what was the worse fashion statement of the day, her Sandy at the end of Grease outfit or KT Tunstall's.
8:10 - Well I think I finally hit the wall. It is time to take the dogs out and actually turn of the computer (I'll even switch off the power strip, see I did learn something today). I'll catch up on the rest which includes Bon Jovi, the semi-reunited Smashing Pumpkins, Roger Waters sans Pink Floyd and The Police later and may add them to this later.
7:50 - I got to imagine that Kanye West's string section is getting tired with always being paraded out with weird makeup ever performance. At least Gnarls Barkley dresses up their backing band in cool outfits that they wear with them. He also breaks out Golddigger which he opened his Concert for Diana with. Yeah that was appropriate.
7:35 - Sadly Kelly didn't take my advise as she brings out back to back songs from her new album as the audience visibly thins. Okay Kelly, we get it, you are a bitter chick with daddy issue, it time to move on.
7:25 - It is Kelly Clarkson time and she wisely didn't up with anything from her unlistenable new album. Hopefully that trend continues.
7:10 - Wow, that was a blistering performance of Don't Drink the Water, which is very appropriate for the day's festivities.
6:50 - Okay, that was coo, they just had on the US feed what I assume was from earlier in the UK a massive drum ensemble featuring the drummers from Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Queen along with a bunch of what looked like high school age kids. But I can't complain that it got cut off because it is time for one of the best live acts ever, the Dave Matthews Band.
6:30 - I'm really digging this new Alicia Keys song, That's the Thing About Love(?). It's goosebumps good. And when did she get so hot? Maybe it's the sweat or that flattering pink dress she is sporting, but she is looking real good tonight.
6:20 - Looking at his waistline, Randy Jackson won't be running for president any time too. It hard to take energy conservation tips from people that aren't conserving their food intake. He is out to introduce Alicia Keys who starts of with a great medley of For the Love of Money, Living for the City and Mercy, Mercy Me. I can't wait until she finally puts out her next album that should be out by the end of the year.
6:00 - Al Gore is back out and he is now shouting. Bored now. People say you can tell if Gore is going to run in 08 based on his waistline. Well it looks like he won't be running at this point.
5:45 - Now it is time to catch up on some of the acts I missed earlier like Genesis in the UK, Linkin Park in Japan, and Snoop Dogg, who know more about living green than maybe even Al Gore, in Germany all while I wait until Alicia Keys comes back out in the US.
5:30 - Back from dinner and it looks like I missed the start of the John Mayer set. And it looks like John is know longer waiting as he has changed the lyrics to his hit song to "We're not waiting on the world to change." While I was eating I checked out the Bravo broadcast and Dave Holmes actually made me spit out my food when someone said Akon was coming up to which he responded, "Somebody's gonna get humped."
4:45 - Darn I missed all but the end of Fall Out Boy. Oh well. And with Madonna in the UK and Akon in the US, I think I'll take my dinner break now. Be back in an hour or so.
4:35 - Dave Grohl, with his new Jesus look, dedicated Best of You to "you know who". Actually I don't, can someone help me out?
4:20 - The Foo Fighter start off with my favorite song in their catalog All My Life. If that life can't get your blood rushing I'm not sure what could. Then they follow that up with my second favorite Hy Hero. Can Big Me be next?
3:55 - Ludacris really needs a new hype man. I know they can't all be Flavor Flav but c'mon. Now he is preforming Pimpin' All Over the World. I'm sure all that pimpin' has to have a pretty large carbon footprint. It is never a good sign when you set is so bad you make me switch over to the Pussycat Dolls. And no, I still don't wish my girlfriend was hot as any of them because that would be a downgrade.
3:40 - Gee had I known that Keith Urban was going to bring out Alicia Keys to sing Gimmie Shelter I may have watched it live. Well probably not because he was still against the Beastie who set the bar pretty high for best performance of the day on any continent. Of course that is because you, and maybe the Beasties, never know what record Mix Master Mike is going to put. Not it is time for a major lull as the Pussycat Doll are coming up in the UK while Ludacris takes the stage in the US. Seriously who invited the Pussycat Doll, together they probably killed a good chunk of the Ozone every performance with all the hairspray they go through. Well they do save some electricity considering only one of their microphones are ever turned on.
3:35 - It's the fracking Beastie Boys doing fracking Sabotage!!! Frack Yeah!!!
3:10 - Crap, I turned in early as not to miss the Beastie Boys and happened upon James Blunt butchering Wild World. That's enough to turn Yusuf Islam into an actual terrorist. Please get the Beasties out soon so I can erase this from my mind.
3:00 - I guess I spoke too soon about competing venues as I am having trouble figuring out who I care about less, James Blunt in the UK or Taking Back Sunday in the US and there is always Xzibit in Japan. I may sink to watching Crowded House in Australia because I continue to not dream it's over. Ooo, Beatie Boys are up next in England.
2:55 - Spinal Tap certainly brought out everyone to help them out with Big Bottom yet even though they have about twenty different bassists onstage, it doesn't sound like any of them are actually plugged in but not that it mattered because the visual was good enough.
2:35 - Now that the US event is up and running there are going to be some hard decisions as it goes head to head with Britain. Right now it is either the Spinal Tap (with the dude from The Office) or KT Tunstall (in gold tights, shorts and a tank top, no seriously). Luckily they will be streaming these after the fact. But Live 8 gets the reunited Pink Floyd, Live Earth reunites Spinal Tap. Mmm.
2:05 - Decisions, decisions, upcoming there is Jack Johnson in Australia, Metalica in Britain or the 12 Girls Band back in China. I think I'll go with Jack who wrote one of the best environment song in recent memory, The Horizon Has Been Defeated.
1:50 - Is it wrong that whenever I here Keane's Somewhere Only We Know I instantly think of that horrible Lakehouse movie just because they used the song in the trailer? Then coming up in Japan is AI, I wonder is (s)he is related to the Antwain Merriweather look-a-like TI.
1:45 - There is currently (I assume) a German rapper on the Germany named Jan Delay (who I assume isn't related to Tom, but one can hope) feed right now, this may be the most entertaining thing I have seen all day.
1:30 - Ugg, the Live Earth website really needs to work on the timing. I missed the beginning of Corrine Bailey Rae because it still says she won't be on another ten minutes will Jack Johnson has been going back between 50 and 45 minutes for a while now even though that concert is already over so there shouldn't be any guessing. Cool, John Legend has joined Rae onstage for a version of Mercy Mercy Me.
1:00 - Darn, while watching the Peppers in England, I missed Enrique Iglesias in Germany. Oh well. And what is with him being in Germany, is he big there? (Insert your own Hasslehoff joke here)
12:35 - Chris Rock making fun of Paris Hilton and introducing the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Classic. Oddly enough he called U2 the "Baddest Band in the Land" at the 1997 MTV VMA's. Wow, that was ten years ago, I feel old. And where is Bono in all of this? If you can't get U2 to a charity event, how important can it be?
12:20 - In between acts on the England feel they have "Put Your Computer to Sleep" which is the biggest irony of this whole event because think of the amount of energy is going into including to power all the concerts and the TV's and computers who are watching, and I'm sure all the waste at the events can't be good for the environment. I know if this wasn't on, my computer would be off right now and I'd be outside doing yard work.
12:00 - So while making my lunch, I turn on Bravo's coverage it it is fracking Fergie again. Can we please end the Black Eyed Peas era? And your host on the television is Dave Holmes, the original loser of MTV's Who Wants to Be a VJ contest and Duffy, the short lived VJ from the nineties. C'mon NBC, can't you get the people at Today to work an extra day of the week? Now Duran Duran is playing Notorious. It is weird to hear this song without Kelis from the great Notorious Trick mash-up.
11:50 - Gee, I take a shower because Fergie is on and I get back and John Legend is already done just to be followed by one of the Spice Girls. Did he just get one song. Now it's Duran Duran who I just saw at the Diana Concert so that's my cue to get some lunch. Hopefully I don't miss the Red Hot Chilli Peppers who are next.
11:25 - Insterersting, in Germany, Maria Mena also sang What a Wonderful World, a much better version if not shorter. I wonder if it was suggested to artist to do the song or if it is a coincidence. Only thirty minutes until John Legend hits the stage in England.
10:10 - I liked Paolo Nutini's New Shoes but this dude is not a very good live performer. He is currently butchering What a Wonderful World. I gotta hunt down the Loius Armstrong to remember how great the song is. But there is only ten minutes until 12 Girls Band hits the stage in China. While Eskimo Joe still plays Down Under. They must be huge there to get such a long set. Speaking of Australia, where is Midnight Oil, aren't they a requirement for every event in that country?
10:55 - Finally Al Gore and I'm already nodding off. Poor Al, he hit the interview circuit last week in one of the worst week with the Fourth of July in the middle of the week to take about Live Earth. Then everyone wanted to talk instead about his son getting caught with the sticky-icky and if he would throw his hat into the presidential ring because the current lackluster candidates.
10:45 - Now there are two American Indians. C'mon, there is only one person that I want to bore me today and that is Al Gore. I'm almost ready to switch over to the Australia feed to listen to Eskimo Joe.
10:30 - Random old dude not named Al Gore coming straight from the National Mall. I guess when you ask Congress to okay a concert featuring Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood was a better idea than getting to okay one featuring Akon and Kanye West.
10:20 - A commercial with Jessica Biel in a bathtowl, if that can't get people to recycle, I'm not sure what will. Well, maybe her actually doing my recycling in a bathtowl. And only ten minutes until a speech from Al Gore. Yeah.
10:00 - Okay, this may not be much for normal music fans, but I totally geeked out when David Gray and Damian Rice performed together. Yeah, I like the sappy troubadours.
9:45 - A nice way to wake up is to the sounds of Snow Patrol. Unfortunately they only got three songs. I guess that will be the norm until the big name old timers hit the stage later.
One of the shows that has quickly become must see television has been VH1’s Hip Hop Honors that for the past to years have given props to the genre’s founding fathers with performances by the artists and tributes by rappers of today. So to capitalize on that success, about a month back VH1 announced that is was going to do its first ever Rock Honors. I was a little skeptical when I heard this because, just from a logistical standpoint, it much harder to pull off. All rappers need are two turntables and a microphone. To have the band, and another as doing a tribute, there will be a lot of time devoted for changing between bands. So instead of paying tribute to about eight rappers, all we get are four bands. And those four inaugural bands: Hendrix? Cream? Zeppelin? AC/DC? Well, nope, nope, nope and nope. Here are some thoughts on the first Rock Honors:
- Jamie Pressly is are host most likely because she looks like every woman you see at Ozzfest, well the ones you see backstage at Ozzfest (which I know from experience). The best part of the whole show is when that huge nerd who comments for I Love the (Insert Decade) tells her “My name isn’t Earl, but his is” when he points to, well, Little Earl.
- The first honoree is Queen who performs a couple songs with Foo Fighters and some dude not named Freddie Mercury. Queen was always a little too theatrical for my taste. But anyways. They did do a really cool version of We Will Rock You with three drummers. I seriously doubt that any song will dethrone that song as greatest stadium anthem ever. And even the dude not named Freddie Mercury can’t screw up the song because it’s all about fan participation.
- Next up is Judas Priest who is preceded by having Godsmack do a medley of their songs. Seriously, if it weren’t for Beavis and Butt-head, I probably would never of heard of Judas Priest. And watching his leather-clad performance, you gotta wonder, much like George Michael, how no one figured out Rob Halford was gay. And add this to the previously honored Freddie Mercury; this is turning out to be a pretty gay show. Well this is VH1.
- The All American Rejects are next to pay tribute to Def Leppard with Photograph. This ended up being the biggest of their songs performed tonight.
- I have to say, when I think of rock, the first thing that comes to my mind is the chick from American Dreams. Although I guess it’s only appropriate that she introduces Def Leppard because throughout their career, their main fan base was teenage girls. And I may be dating myself, but whenever I hear that German opening, my first thought isn’t Rock of Ages, but rather Pretty Fly for a White Guy. Then for some reason in lieu of Pour Some Sugar on me they perform 20th Century Boy, the old T-Rex song. Oh, that’s right; the song is part of their new cover album that everyone ignored when it came out last week.
- To honor the final group, Kiss, VH1 assembled an all star lineup that included Rob Zombie, Slash, and Scott Ian, who happens to currently be staring in VH1’s reality show, Supergroup, as well as Gilby Clark and Tommy Lee who will be participating in the next Rock Star incarnation coming this summer on CBS (by the way both VH1 and CBS are owned by the same company). Boy and girls, today’s word of the day is synergy.
- Closing out the show is Kiss. I wanted the best, but all I got was a bunch of extremely old dudes in face paint. I’m not sure what is more sad, the band or the old dudes who still worship them. An anticlimactic end to a mediocre show.
- Hopefully next year they ask for my input on whom to honor. If for some reason you want to see the show, you can watch it anytime on VH1’s broadband channel VSPOT which includes four performances that weren’t even good enough to make it into the broadcast version.
There were a lot of telethons over the weekend to help the victims of Katrina. First was the major one, Shelter From the Storm, that was on all the broadcast networks and a bunch of cable outlets too much like A Tribute to Heroes that was staged right after 9/11 except this was only an hour long and we weren’t subjected to a Canadian singing God Bless America. Unfortunately I was unable to talk to Mandy Moore when I called in, but at least all of the performances were great and poignant. Performances that stuck out for me included Mary J. Blige joining U2 for One and the heavy Creedence Clearwater Revival presences as the Foo Fighters covered Born on the Bayou and Garth Brooks added his rendition of Who’ll Stop the Rain? Ironically no one performed CCR’s ode to President Bush, Fortunate Son. Speaking of whom, the highlight of the whole evening was when Chris Rock, before going into his prepared speech, quickly threw in, “George Bush hates midgets.” Apparently Rock later went on the BET telethon, S.O.S., and added “George Bush hate albinos.” At least that what heard as I didn’t watch it myself because, much like my president, I don’t care about black people. As for the originator of that quote, I wonder if it was an accident that Kanye West's mike didn’t work to start of Jesus Walks, of which he was backed by a live choir and strings section.
Then last night saw the four hour concert, ReAct Now: Music and Relief, put on by the various music channels many of the acts a repeat of the night before, but each performing a different song than the night before. Some interesting new hair styles were sported on the telecast with John Mayer going with an Anikin in Episode III look, Trent Reznor’s new buzz cut that left him looking like Leonard Nimoy, and Melissa Etheridge, last seen completely bald at the Grammys is now starting to grow hers back after beating cancer. Musically the highlights included Reznor alone by a piano sing his song Hurt but sounding more like Johnny Cash’s version than his orginal, Maroon 5 doing the Beatles Don’t Let Me Down, Fiona Apple climbing out of obscurity to perform a new song, Extraordinary Machine, and Mötley Crüe being joined by the non-rapping dude from Linkin Park, a string section, a choir, and the dude from Tommy Lee Goes to College on the drums, to sing Home Sweet Home. Surprisingly good were the unknown artist from New Orleans such as Buckwheat Zydeco, Chris Thomas King, The Radiators, and Marc Broussard who all gave impassioned performances and hopefully MTV and VH1 put these artist in rotation because they deserve it. On the flip side, I was a little disappointed Chris Rock didn’t continue his “Bush hates…” routine.
For those that missed either show, they are being brought to you on demand through broadband channels, sorry dial-upers. For Shelter From the Storm, is being brought to you by AOL while ReAct Now is on both MTV and VH1. MTV and VH1 even are airing a couple of performances that were not aired. If you are a music fan, or even if you’re not, you can buy some of the performances from the ReAct concert at Connect. About half of the performances are up now including two unaired songs by Beck and Rob Thomas. The proceeds from the sales will be split up between the Red Cross, America’s Second Harvest and The Salvation Army. According to the site, there will be more up in the following days which I can assumes is because of legal issues. Way to go Music Industry for crewing up once again by dragging your feet on this. No word on when or if you can get your hands on songs from Shelter From the Storm. Personally, I'd love to have Mary J & U2's duet.
And the donations keep on pouring in from the celebrities. Michael Jackson says he is recording a song considering the one he did for 9/11 did so well. You remember the one that was produce by a porn star right? Also joining the “I have better thing to give than money bandwagon” is Terrell Owens who is putting up his NFC championship ring up for auction will all proceeds from the sale going to charity. Wow, he’s giving up a ring he didn’t even earn. Great PR move TO. Now how about a check you two? If you what to donate your money, click the Red Cross button in my sidebar.
![Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebDZ0qqwOVKMZj7oFSUe8Hm3ax54U9Hp1fThJPgiddTyzcdwx_5SV6E3b7hkKyxbaDiym4COmUXT2YJnsKCUjBHI_a2xZtNoY7qFQRslP5AGO5gLkJwn2ZbO0wIF80ycbKrgPPA/s400/small_high.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
- 50 Cent: Nothing says I completely sold out more that a 
Then last night saw the four hour concert, ReAct Now: Music and Relief, put on by the various music channels many of the acts a repeat of the night before, but each performing a different song than the night before. Some interesting new hair styles were sported on the telecast with