The 25 Best Albums of 2009

If you are interested in reading my original review of these albums, check out the link below the album and if you are interested in buying them on iTunes, click on the album link. If you want to buy the physical CD, head over to Scooter McGavin’s Amazon Store (or click on the album cover) where you can order them there:


1. Bible Belt – Diane Birch
Love Makes the Price Good Enough to Wanna Pay

2. Tell ‘em What Your Name Is! – Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears
Where My Horns At, Are You with Me?

3. I and Love and You – The Avett Brothers
If You're Loved by Some One You're Never Rejected

4. Big Whiskey and the Groo-Grux King – Dave Matthews Band
Somebody's Broken Heart Become Your Favorite Song

5. The Fall – Norah Jones
My Mind's Racing from Chasing Pirates

6. Troubadour – K’Naan
I Take Rappers on a Field Trip any Day

7. Amanda Leigh – Mandy Moore
Those Calendar Girls Ain't got Nothing on Me

8. No Line on the Horizon - U2
Let Me in the Sound

9. Kamaal the Abstract – Q-Tip
And Introduce You All to a New Sound to Pound

10. Love, Save the Empty – Erin McCarley
You Hold Your Head up to the Sky; You Say What Kind of Blue Are You

11. Backspacer – Pearl Jam
When Something's Lost, I Wanna Fight to Get it Back Again

12. Kate Earl – Kate Earl
The Music Within Makes Me Whole and a World I Built on My Own

13. LOtUSFLOW3R/MPLSoUND - Prince
Not Reviewed

14. Draw the Line – David Gray
Everyday Is a New Version Of

15. Battle Studies – John Mayer
It's Been a Long Time Since Twenty-Two

16. White Lies for Dark Times – Ben Harper and the Relentless7
The Very Thing that Drives You Can Drive You Insane

17. Far – Regina Spektor
It Was so Easy and the Words Were so Sweet

18. The Element of Freedom – Alicia Keys
I Don't Want to Come Down, Hope My Wings Don't Fail Me Now

19. The Blueprint 3 – Jay-Z
This Ain't for iTunes, This Ain't for Sing-a-Longs

20. Ben Folds Presents: University a Capella!
If There Is a God He Is Laughing at Us and Our Football Team

21. A Little Happiness – Aimee Allen
I'm Dancing with My Records On

22. It’s Not You, it’s Me – Lily Allen
I am a Weapon of Massive Consupmtion

23. 21st Century Breakdown – Green Day
You Know What's Worth Fighting For When it's not Worth Dieing For

24. Relapse – Eminem
You Think That's Bad You Should Hear the Rest of My Album

25. Play On – Carrie Underwood
Gives You Feeling You Don't Want to Fight

Those Calendar Girls Ain’t got Nothing on Me

On her 2003 album Coverage, Mandy Moore covered plenty of songs from the seventies-singer songwriter era like Todd Rundgren, Cat Stevens, and Carly Simon which could explain why her latest album Amanda Leigh sounds like it was recorded during that era. And not to discredit her adult pop of her last album, the decent Wild Hope, but the music on Amanda Leigh is better for it.

Songs like Merrimack River and Song About Home float along and could be a great soundtrack if you are interested in a mellow summer lounging on a park bench. I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week is a clap along that is much more fun than anything on Wild Hope (although I wonder what her newly husband thinks about the song being released right after they got married). Nothing Everything follows that trend but is more adventurous with Moore unleashing for one of the few times on the album while everyone in the studio just seems to have fun the longer the song goes on.

Of all of the songs, the one that could have fit best in the seventies is Pocket Philosopher which bounces along with its piano intro, some well placed flutes, and cutesy delivery to the point it borders on a song from a musical. There are a few hiccups along the way; Fern Dell just doesn’t come together as well as other songs on the album. While Everblue borders on smaltzy. Also at thirty-seven minutes, the album seems a little short. But for that half hour, everything can just fade away while watch the summer go by slowly.

Song to Download – Pocket Philosopher

Amanda Leigh gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television vol. IL

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


I Could Break Your Heart any Day of the Week - Mandy Moore



I would have loved to be in the pitch meeting with Chuck Liddell. “Alright Chuck, you walk in then Mandy Moore flashes you then kicks you in the manhood area.” I have a feeling Chuck stopped listening after “Mandy Moore flashes you.”


I Do Not Hook Up – Kelly Clarkson



When it comes to songs about chastity, I’ll stick with Jermaine Stewart. But I did laugh a lot when Kelly Clarkson fell off the bar.


It’s Alright, it’s OK – Ashley Tisdale



Speaking of Clarkson, when did Ashley Tisdale turn into her? Not only is the video and song a complete rip off of Since U Been Gone, she even stole her hairstyle from the video. I hope this doesn’t turn out like Michael Jackson trying to turn into Diana Ross. On the bright side, the song is catchier than anything off her first album.


Daniel – Bat for Lashes



Now it is time for the latest indie blogger flavor of the month: Bat for Lashes complete with weird video. But where Feist gave us a cute weird video, this is creepy weird in a I felt like I should take a shower after watching kind of way. With that said, if you can find it, download her cover of Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody.

I Want My Music Television vol. XXXVII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Human - The Killers

• The Killers
• New Music

If I were to make a list of the most disappoint things about the 00's, Sam’s Town by The Killers would have to make the list. Most of that was thanks to Brandon Flowers’ own Bruce Springsteen comparison. After that backlash, you would think Flowers would cool it on that, but he is on the record of calling Human a mix between Johnny Cash and the Pet Shop Boys. Um, yeah, okay. But looking at the video it is nice to see the band has ditched the silly Spaghetti Western look, but I have no idea what is with the feathered shoulder pads. Look for Day & Age out November 22.


Move - Q-Tip



Yeah Snoop Dogg just did the retro video a couple months ago, but what I have heard from The Renaissance, color me excited about the new Q-Tip album dropping on November 4.


Make You Crazy - Brett Dennen



What do you do when you’re a singer-songwriter and everyone ignores your first album? Well if you are Brett Dennen you find yourself a famous fan like Mandy Moore and put her in your video where you do your best Al Bundy impression. Works for me.


Lovebug - The Jonas Brothers



Mock me all you want but the new Jonas Brothers song is catchy in a still not as catchy as anything in the Hanson catalog kind of way.

She Deserves Better Than Him, Better Than Me Too

Oh Mandy, you came and you gave without taking, so I watched License to Wed. And boy did that suck massively. I mean seriously, was I really supposed to laugh at anything in that movie? But anyways. Luckily Ms. Moore redeemed herself with the much more watchable Dedication where Mandy plays an illustrator picked to work with a children’s book writer, Billy Crudup (Almost Famous) with a massive case of OCD whose longtime illustrator, Tom Wilkerson (Michael Clayton) is no longer able to perform the task.

In Dedication, Moore was handpicked to get Crudup to deliver a new book within a month’s time. The relationship between the new partners isn’t a smooth transition as does all he can to break her while the publisher does all he can to make sure she gets the book done on time. And a tall task that is as Crudup doesn’t function well around others. Wilkerson was his best friend and a very loose phrase as theirs was mostly a working relationship.

The film is a romantic in the simplest sense as sparks fly the more time the two spend together, but Crudup’s eccentricities keep you wondering if the two could actually be compatible. Moore, who doesn’t show up in the film for some time, isn’t really the model of normal either as she deals with her mother/land lord (Dianne Wiest) who seems to want to be the latter more than the former. And the shady ex-boyfriend throws in a monkey wrench too. Dedication is much is a much more jarring than most romantic comedy fair in terms of writing, acting, and directing, but it is much easier to sit through than License to Wed.

Dedication gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Feed Your iPod vol. XV: Have a Little Faith in Me

Here is one for all the lovebirds out there celebrating Valentines Day today (or as I like to call it, Thursday). Two summers ago when writing a long diatribe about Your Song’s I called Have a Little Faith in Me the most romantic song ever, so really there is no better song for a day like today than this.


Have a Little Faith in Me - John Hiatt




Bonus: Have a Little Faith in Me - Mandy Moore




Extra Bonus: Have a Little Faith in Me - Joe Cocker

You’re Part of My Entity

For most of the summer I have decried Umbrella by Rihanna as one of the worst songs ever in the history of recorded music. Back in May I said “Rihanna is good for at least one good song per album. But Umbrella definitely isn’t going to be that one for her upcoming release.” (see Don't Download These Videos vol. XVI) Then in June after calling the chorus annoying I added, “Seriously, how could no one, from the writer, producer, anyone at the label or Rihanna herself not hear that chorus and think, ‘yeah, that doesn’t work.’” (see Now That it's Raining More than Ever) But my hated for the song started to loosen up as I mentioned last week about the absurd rumor that the song is a euphemism for a lady’s kootchiepop.

Well it may be time to break out some crow because I am beginning to straight out like this song. Well not Rihanna’s overproduced version with her grating vocals, over exaggerated hip-hop beat and an unnecessary cameo from Jay-Z, but instead two cover versions that are currently floating around cyber space.

Yesterday I received a message from my good friend Mandy Moore suggesting I check out her version of the song that she did for Yahoo’s Cover Art. And since I’d certainly like to stand underneath her Umbrella (ella-ella-eh-eh-eh) I went to check it out. Ms. Moore takes everything wrong with the original and fixes them, so gone is Jay-Z, the hip-hop beat is replaced with a soothing acoustic sound that brings out the romantic lyrics to forefront (well assuming that the songs isn’t actually about, um, you know what), and softens the annoying ella-ella-eh-eh-eh part. Oh, and Mandy has a much better voice. Check it out for yourself below:





And Mandy isn’t the only one reworking Umbrella. Earlier this week in my normal Tuesday routine of checking out what’s new in the iTunes store I came across some chick named Marié Digby who has a new song that happened to be called Umbrella. I had to check out the 30 preview to see if it was in fact the same song, which it was. And after some research it turns out she is one of those annoying YouTubers who upload them singing other people song which I avoid because, much like I avoid American Karaoke, if these people were any good they wouldn’t need the internet, or reality show, to get a record deal. But even though Digby certainly won’t be winning any singing competitions anytime soon, her version, slightly faster than Mandy’s, is much better than the original. Check out her performance on Carson Daily (sorry you have to sit threw some Carson taking first) and you can download Marié Digby’s version of Umbrella here:




And in a completely unrelated note last week I got an e-mail about a new documentary by Leonardo DiCaprio called the 11th Hour about the impending climate crisis. So if you wanted to see An Inconvenient Truth but were like me and had absolutely no desire to see Al Gore talk about a bunch of slide for ninety minutes, this may be the film for you. The movie opens tomorrow in New York and Los Angeles, next week in selected cities and August 31 nationwide. Below is the trailer and you can check out the website at 11thhouraction.com:

I Was a Starling, Nobody's Darling

Whoever had Mandy Moore back in 1999 being the most successful of the blonde pop princesses in the office pool eight years later would have made a lot of money as she started out fourth in the pecking order. But out of her contemporaries, she seemed to make the most chances being the first to go brunette as well as the first to give acting a shot, and remains to be the only one to be successful at it. She even recorded two of the best songs among her peer with In My Pocket and Crush, though Genie in a Bottle still ranks as the gold standard.

After three albums chalk full of the overproduced teen pop fair, Mandy released an album of cover tunes that reflected more of her new love of folksier music which included one of my favorite songs of all time, John Hiatt’s Have a Little Faith in Me. Now four years later at the age of twenty-three, Mandy has written an album worth of songs very similar to those she hand picked for Coverage with some help from the indie-folk acts like The Weepies, Rachael Yamagata, Chantal Kreviazuk, and Lori McKenna on the just released Wild Hope.

The lyrics are everything you would expect from Mandy for her first go a round putting pen to paper with some introspective lyrics and laments to lost loves. The problem though is unlike other artists of the genre she is trying out where you tend to relate the songs to your own experiences, you cannot help but wonder which songs are about that that tennis player and which ones are about that dude who wrote Garden State. Although until I learn otherwise, I will assume the line, “I hope you burn in hell” (Nothing that You Are) is about that annoying dude from Yo Momma. Despite the vengeful lyric, Mandy never come across like Kelly Clarkson-like bitterness.

Instead throughout the album, Mandy takes a low key approach to her vocal, content instead of letting the well produced music performed by actual musicians, no synthesizers in sight, share the spotlight until she turns up the dial on the album closer Gardenia where she belts it out with only a piano to accompany her and lines like “I’m the one who likes to make love on the floor”. No word yet on if she likes taking walks in the rain. Elsewhere on the album, Most of Me, with its driving acoustic guitar, is one of those songs you should be required to play while driving on a country road on a clear summer night. Whether the girl Moore is talking about in the song is her or someone else, the way she presents the female in Can’t You Just Adore Her? The answer is a resounding yes.

Wild Hope certainly isn’t the best folk album you will here this year, nor any of the songs as catchy as her poppier past, but the album is a step in the right direction creatively for Ms. Moore. And this album shows that Mandy could have a great album in her if she put more time into it.

Song to Download - Most of Me

Wild Hope gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

We on Award Tour: 2007 MTV Movie Awards

After years of just having random hot chicks host, we finally have an actual comedian host the MTV Movie Awards. But as soon as the get something right, they do something as equally wrong to cancel out the goodness, namely replacing professionally done movie spoofs with amateur ones which after seeing the final three, was a huge mistake. You know the spoofs were really bad when the best actually spoofed United 93. You know, the movie that documented the flight that went down in Pennsylvania on September 11th. But the show wasn’t all bad; here are some more thoughts on the festivities:

- We get are very first commercial free pre show and it is pretty clear the Transformers was the one that picked up the tab. I would say a good twenty minutes of the half hour was devoted to the movie. And even though I was a huge Transformers in my youth, there is no way you can get me to see a live action movie version. I have leaned my lesson from the live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies.

- One of the few non Transformers interviews was with Mandy Moore and the dude from The Office (I choose not to type his name not because I can’t spell it but because, well actually, that pretty much sums it up) who hilariously pull out the sarcasm when it is mentioned that Paris Hilton arrive.

- That may have been the worst opening in the awards history. Obviously someone was smoking something when they wrote that.

- At least that was saved but the monologue when Sarah Silverman has even more fun at Paris Hilton’s expense. Is it wrong that my biggest laughs of the night were when people started cheering when Silverman mentioned Hilton’s impending jail team and the subsequence look on her face when Hilton realize everyone hates her.

- We are live for the first time tonight and it seemed there were a lot more cursing then usually even if you take away Silverman’s closing song.

- The cast of Fantastic Four is out first to present. Pretty much every presenting team was a cast of a movie (I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Live Free or Die Trying, License to Wed, Transformers, Hairspray). It’s like MTV doesn’t even try not to hind they are a complete industry shill. I guess they don’t have to when people like me come back every year. Not surprisingly they handed out the award for best villain to Jack Nicholson because he was prominently shown during the monologue and Jack isn’t showing up if he didn’t win. And since there were no gratuitous shots of him after the award, I bet he walked right out of the auditorium after picking up his award.

- Seriously, the Mac guy is going to be in the next Die Hard movie? Did Bruce Willis just okay this to get iPods for his family? And did he get the Windows guy a cameo?

- They really needed to black out more than they did in the Borat fight scene.

- Apropos that Dane Cook introduced all of the laughless amateur spoof. Almost as unfunny as the spoofs and Cook were those Human Giant spots. Now I know to never watch that show.

- In the rare non-cast presenting team, they took the time machine back to 1997 to team up Posh Spice and Chris Tucker.

- Is Umbrella really the number one song in the country? The live rock version is was a little better than the album version. Although Rihanna must really be talented if she can sing if we can hear her without her lips movie like at the ends of the performance.

- At least we got one good spoof with Silverman trying to find a presenter. Unfortunately it ended with another poor idea, having a random webcam user present an award.

- Why have an Orbitz Dirty Mouth if they don’t even show the winner let along the nominees. Oh yeah, it was just for a blatant cooperate sponsorship.

- They are resurrecting the Unplugged series for Bon Jovi? Or are they reshowing one from twenty years ago?

- It was nice that MTV made fun of all the annoying people who quote Borat ad nausea with the Boratititus segment. Yes random frat boy, I’m talking to you, stop it, it is not funny when you do it.

- When I heard Mike Myers was going to win the Generations Awards I was excited thinking they were going back to their roots like the great Lifetime Achievement Awards. That was until I realized they were awarding it to Austin Powers not the unkillable homicidal maniac. What was really sad was Myers pulled out an old Wayne’s World joke with the whole sell out part of his acceptance speech.

- As much as I like Amy Winehouse, her performance was a little disappointing as it was the same as her Letterman performance and every other show of the like. They could at least show pictures of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, et al, behind her. In fact, they just released a remix of the show with Jay-Z, he was already there, he could have jumped on stage.

- I would personally like to thank whoever decided to turn Amanda Bynes into a stripper. She didn’t quite pull it off entirely, but it still worked for me.

- It was nice to see a movie that was universally panned by critics and viewers alike, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest actually took home the Best Movie award. And it is not a good sign when your live awards show actually ends two minutes early. No wonder we rarely saw the morbidly obese dude with the freakish bellybutton.

Thank You for Being a Friend

I have an admission to make. Since the inception of this blog I have made fun of MySpace and whenever anyone asked me if I had one I would retort, “guys my age on MySpace all end up on Dateline NBC.” But secretly a couple months ago I went ahead and got my own Myspace basically for the sole reason so I could tell people that Snoop Doggy Dogg was a friend. I went threw a list of celebrities and musicians and even a couple imaginary people and some of them actually accepted my friends request. I even quietly put a link to my MySpace (or can I drop the first my?) on the sidebar here and there were some people who read this blog who clicked through and requested my friendship.

Aside from the rare person who found MySpace from here, I occasionally get request from your token spammers. But yesterday I opened up my inbox to see yet another rare friend request but this time it was from one Mandy Moore. Yes that Mandy Moore. I’m not sure how she came across me, but I would like to thank her for thinking enough of me to ask to be my friend. And I wonder if she remembers me because we actually met once. Back in the late nineties I was working at the local amphitheater and I was hanging backstage at the *NSYNC concert when this random hot chick came over and I started to chat her up. Later I look on the stage only to see the girl who I was talking to on the stage as the boy banders opening act. Then a couple weeks later I see this very person on MTV with her own video and that person turned out to be Mandy Moore. I knew I should have gotten her number. Oh well.

But now that we have reconnected via the internets, maybe we can do so in person again. So Mandy, feel free to shout me a holla the next time you come around northeast Ohio and I can show you around the town, maybe check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and grab something to eat afterward. Also if there are anymore hot celebrities out there, feel free to send me a friends request (guess none hot celebrities can send me one too, but I reserve to save the top spaces for celebrities because I’m shallow like that).

Don't Download These Videos vol. XVII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Extraordinary - Mandy Moore



When I first heard this song I liked it. It was breezy and soothing. With that said, this may be the cheesiest video of the year. Yeah I’ll take as many Mandy Moore’s as possible, but this whole tower of people is pretty lame, in a Third Eye Blind has already done it kind of way. Note to Mandy, if you are going for a new folksy sound, don’t make a big budget video that still looks cheap. Just go out to the local field with a dude and an acoustic guitar and look cute. That would have saved you a couple thousand dollars and would have been better on top of it.


Someone to Love - Fountains of Wayne



It is doubtful this is the song that will lift Fountains of Wayne out of the pantheon of One Hit Wonders and the video is certainly missing Rachel Hunter, but it is entertaining in a sad kind of way. Seriously, no one should be resigned to watching King of Queens along. Actually is that show still on. Is this another Will and Grace situation where a show is still around five years after I though it was canceled?


Hang Me Up to Dry - Cold War Kids



I can’t say I really liked this song at first listen but all the sudden it showed up on my iPod and I’m really starting to dig it now. Yeah the video as a movie trailer has already been done by My Chemical Romance, but they suck massively (much apologies to all the fourteen year old white girls who aren’t cool enough to be cheerleaders) and Cold War Kids did a much better job with the noir themed trailer. Speaking of noir, don’t forget to check out my contest where you can Win a Copy of Neptune Noir. Okay, end shameless plug.


Fallin’ for You - Eva Avila



Found this little gem over at Tapeworthy and apparently Eva Avila is Canada’s top karaoker. What does it say about are karaokers when they can only come up with one song better than the top Canadian karaoker and the best karaoker in all of New Zealand, James Morrison put out a much better album than any of ours have. But anyways. And not did Eva create a much superior song to any song not named Since U Been Gone, so is certainly more attractive to any of our karaokers, winners or losers. I don’t know what it is, but the mismatched socks are uber-cute.

Scooter McGavin's Spring Preview part 2

Earlier this week I unveiled Part 1 of my Spring Music Preview (click the link to read it) and here is the second half of the post. Also if there is anything I missed, feel free to drop me a comment and I may add it later.


May 22
It Won’t Be Soon Before Long - Maroon 5: It may not be a good sign that I listed the album in my Winter Preview last year and it still hasn’t been released. Another bad sign is the first single, Makes Me Wonder which is mediocre at best.

May 29
Double Up - R Kelly: The bad news, no new additions to Trapped in the Closet. The good new, R has completed twenty-two new chapters of his opera, eleven of which will show up on DVD this summer. Hopefully the back eleven won’t be far behind. As for Double Up, expect a cavalcade of guest spot including Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, and Mary J. Blige as well as twenty, yes twenty, others.


June 5
Easy Tiger - Ryan Adams: In 2005 Ryan Adams released three albums, 2006: none. So after almost a year and a half without recording an album, he should have a few great song stock piled for this release. No word on how many other albums are scheduled to be released later this year.


June 19
Icky Thump - The White Stripes: After a detour with a more traditional band, Jack White is back with Meg with an album that was recorded within three weeks in Nashville.

Wild Hope - Mandy Moore: Mandy has gone the independent root with an album that is said to sound much like the cover album that was widely ignored four years ago (but featured a version of one of my favorite songs of all time, Have a Little Faith in Me). It will also be the first time Moore co-wrote every song on an album.


July 10
Finding Forever - Common: The Chicago rapper finally had a breakout success with his last album Be thanks to some production from Kanye West. On the follow up West returns behind the board along with will.i.am and the late J Dilla. You can also expect a guest spot from, wait for it, wait for it… Lily Allen. That is going to be classic.

Zeitgeist - Smashing Pumpkins: It’s been seven years since they have put out an album and twelve years since they put out a good one, can Billy Corgan get back to his nineties heydays?


No Date Announced Yet But Should Be Out By the Time You Go on Summer Vacation
My December - Kelly Clarkson: I’m not sure who the brain trust is that decided to release an album called My December in the middle of summer but this may be a make or break album for the former karaoker. Clarkson has decided to write most of the songs with production from David Kahne (The Strokes). Surprisingly ex-Minutemen bassist Mike Watt shows up on half the tracks. Scooter Update: Just heard the first single Never Again, another done me wrong anthem but it is definitely no Since U been Gone. It is not even Behind These Hazel Eyes or Walk Away. Just on the strength the first single, I am leaning towards break right now.

Songs About Girls - will.i.am: Believe it or not, there was a time when the Black Eyed Peas didn’t suck. This was of course the pre-Fergie era. And not only is his first solo album Fergie-less, there is actually no guest stars. Wow, can anyone remember the last rap album with no guest appearances? (I want to say To the 5 Boroughs)


In the next couple months you can also expect albums from Jimmy Eat World, Garbage, Chris Cornell (which I also on my Winter Preview), Velvet Revolver, Fabolous, Paul McCartney, and Veronica Mars favorite Spoon. Like I stated in my Winter Preview, all the heavy hitters are being held off until the forth quarter, which will also include new disks from Coldplay, Eminiem, Foo Fighters, and, oh please no, Britney Spears. Still no word on Chinese Democracy yet.

If I Could Be…

Aaron tagged me, so here I go!

Rules: What follows is a list of different occupations. You must select at least five of them. You may add more if you like to your list before you pass it on (after you select five of the items as it was passed to you). Of the five you selected, you are to finish each phrase with what you would do as a member of that profession. Then pass it on to three other bloggers.

Here’s that list:
If I could be a scientist… If I could be a farmer…
If I could be a musician… If I could be a doctor…
If I could be a painter… If I could be a gardener…
If I could be a missionary… If I could be a chef…
If I could be an architect… If I could be a linguist…
If I could be a psychologist… If I could be a librarian…
If I could be an athlete… If I could be a lawyer…
If I could be an innkeeper… If I could be a professor…
If I could be a writer… If I could be a backup dancer…
If I could be a goonie… If I could be a spy…
If I could be a llama-rider… If I could be a bonnie pirate…
If I could be a midget stripper… If I could be a proctologist…
If I could be a TV-Chat Show host… If I could be an actor…
If I could be a judge… If I could be a Jedi…
If I could be a mob boss…If I could be a backup singer…
If I could be a CEO…If I could be a hobbit…
If I could be a movie reviewer… If I could be a monkey’s uncle…
If I could be a gangster… If I could be Miss America…

Here are my choices:

If I could be a musician... I would be a backpack rapper. For reference, check out albums by A Tribe Called Quest or Kanye West. These are rappers that concentrate more on lyrics than the beats and don't need to rap about how hard they are or how much bling they have, which has sadly dominated the rap scene lately.

If I could be a backup dancer… I would backup Mandy Moore hoping to be her own personal Kevin Spears. Hopefully unlike Brittney, Mandy doesn't turn into white trash after we start to hook up. A side note, I once met, and hit on Mandy Moore not knowing who she was. Had I only asked for her number back then.

If I could be a writer… I would write the greatest musical ever written. That shouldn't be too hard considering 99% of musicals are absolutely horrible. And yes, I do have the idea of what it will be about and no, I won't tell you. All I need to help me is a chance meeting with Lionel Ritchie so he can be the Rogers to my Hammerstein. Or Hammerstein to my Rodger, I can remember which one did what. I wonder if they will ever do a Project Greenlight type show for musicals.

If I could be an actor… I would want to be Dr, Venkman in a remake of Ghostbusters. He gets slimed, covered in marshmallow, and he gets the girl (Kate Bosworth would play the Sigourney Weaver part.) I may have to write a role for myself in my musical too.

If I could be a painter… I would be Bob Ross. A white man's afro. Happy little trees. No mistakes, just happy accidents. How great would that be? Except for that whole being dead part.

Now it’s my turn to tag someone. I choose…

Vryce
P!nk
Martyn