Ask and You Shall Receive

There were a lot of complaints last week of MTV/VH1’s coverage of the Live 8 concerts as they cut from performance to performance, sometime cutting off an artist in mid-song. Well today, they did an alright job of righting their pervious wrong as both channels show five hours of uninterrupted and commercial free performances. It still wasn’t perfect as they didn’t give full performances of some artist like Stevie Wonder and Dido. Not too mention the laundry list of performances that were left off that I pointed out in my original Live 8 post (World Keep on Turning, Cause it Won’t Be Too Long), none of those artist were given a slot today. So, alas, the best place to see the concerts until the DVD comes out is at AOLMusic.com. Here are some additions of interest that I saw on today’s broadcast that I didn’t mention in my last Live 8 review:

- What was with all the gratuitous Gwyneth and Apple shots during the Coldplay performance? Although I have to admit that Apple gun-range type ear plugs the cutest thing.

- Even more questionable gratuitous shot was of Paula Abdul during Stevie Wonder’s performance. Seriously why?

- MTV and VH1 repeated many of the same performances like U2, Coldplay, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Robbie Williams, The Who, Pink Floyd, and Paul McCartney. Let’s play a little game of “Which One of These is Not Like the Others?” If you guessed Robbie Williams, go get yourself a cookie. Very few people on this side of the pond could even name one of songs. But at least MTV showed his performance of Angels, unlike VH1. And for anyone who thinks that’s a Jessica Simpson song, please do yourself a favor and download the original Williams version.

- Did I seriously hear Rob Thomas start to sing Steve Miller Band’s The Joker in the middle of 3 AM? Worst placement of a song ever.

- Now I the biggest Snoop Dogg fan out there but I MTV didn’t show his performance because all they did was edit out every third word. It got unbearable to watch even for me. As I was flipping through the channels until Snoop was over I happened upon the WNBA All-Star Game. I didn’t even now they started their season yet, let alone are halfway through it.

- VH1 actually showed a performance from Johannesburg while MTV showed the same performance and a second one to boot. Yet nothing from Rome, Barrie, Paris, or Moscow.

- I wonder why Alicia Keys only got one song. And how did Linkin Park get four songs plus an extra three song with Jay-Z? Do people really need that long of a bathroom break?

- During my last Pink Floyd post (Money, It's a Crime), I wondered if there was some sort of hug at the end of their performance and it turned out there was. I’m really beginning to think there will be a full reunion show (yes show, not tour) in the near future.

It was also telling what each channel chose as their post-concert programming. MTV showed a MTV News report dedicated to Live 8 that included many of the segments that were showed multiple times during last week’s show. It also included a segment featuring the detractors of Live 8 who made counterpoint, many of which I agree with. While VH1 decided to show a mini marathon of their Fabulous Life Of… series. Nothing better to follow up five hours devoted to eliminate poverty in Africa than having a show devoted to the life of excess. Do we really need to know that Justin Timberlake has about eight cars that cost a total of approximately two million dollars? Hey but at least he snapped his fingers in the One commercial. Way to contribute JT.

Also it was announce recently that the leaders of G8 have pledged to give $50 billion by 2010. A great step in the right direction, but one major obstacle is that many of the African countries are lead by ruthless dictators. There needs to be regime changes in these countries as some of the economist pointed out during the counterpoint in the MTV special. And unlike Iraq, a change in government would not be met with such opposition as the African people have nothing to lose and everything to gain by such a change. Yes Saddam was as horrible as his African counterparts, but Iraqi’s, for the most part were well off under Saddam (sans the Kurds), just as long as they didn’t cross him or his regime. So the Iraqis had much to lose by an invasion and met it with much resistance. This would not be the case in Africa, as it was not the case in Afghanistan either. So once these oppressive regimes are changed and a true democracy is put in place, then, and only then, will the dream of making poverty history will be achieved.

I Got the Brains, You Got the Looks

Nothing says, “no way I’m watching thing” more than hearing the phrase, “from the demented mind of Ashton Kutcher." So needless to say, I had no desire to see his latest show the he was producing, Beauty and the Geek. Not to mention that the show looked like an Average Joe knock off. And it’s never a good idea to rip-off an already lame show. But the more ads I saw for the Beauty and the Geek, the more entertaining it looked. I realized that it wasn’t necessarily an Average Joe knock-off as Beauty and the Geek was not a dating show, instead, as the host said, it was a social experiment where they take a dumb chick (who happens to be hot) and pair her up with a smart dude (who happens to be a nerd). But the biggest advantage of the show was whereas most shows have a lone token hot chick, Beauty and the Geek has six. So by the time the show started, I decided to give it a try.

What I found was one of the most entertaining reality shows in a long while. The highlight of the show was the nerds. First there was the king of all nerds, Richard Rubin who as soon as he walked on screen I though he’s the white Urkel. And apparently I was right as his partner said the same thing in her first interview after meeting him. Then there was Chuck Munyon who had a penchant for say very big word that even the other geeks didn’t know the meaning to and would correct every little detail that could be wrong. Oh, and he had an occasional nose bleed. And Joe Hanson had no problem admitting that he was a virgin on national television. That in itself isn’t that bad until he clarified that he wasn’t by choice. But my favorite geek was Bill Lambing who’s title was “Vice-President of the Dukes of Hazard Fan Club.” Make you wonder just how geeky the president is. And Bill mention he didn’t have enough time to meet woman because he was too busy with the fan club. How busy can he be, the show has been off the air for twenty years. And any true Dukes fan (like myself) refuses to acknowledge any Dukes of Hazard that doesn’t star John Schneider and Tom Wopat. Didn’t Holleywood learn anything from the Coy and Vance debacle?

As for the fair sex, we had a bunch of dumb token hot chicks. All the hot chick clichés were here: Hot chick how spells her name with an “I” instead of a “Y” – Mindi Emanuel; hot chick who mispronounces her own name – Caitilin Stoller (pronounced Kite-a-lynn); sorority girl – Mindi; cheerleader – Krystal Tini; Barbi wannabe – Erika Rumsey But the problem with them was that some of them were not that hot. Not that I’d turn any of them down, but some would be considered Elevated (Yellow) if I were grading them on my Terror Alert Scale including Krystal, Mindi and Scarlet. That’s half of the girls right there. I guess they went more for the dumber girl but then again Mindi wasn’t really that dumb though. Then Cheryl Eliot, whom I though would be the most approachable from first sight of the bunch, was tossed on the first elimination. But lingerie model Lauren Bergfeld make up for the sup-par who also had one of the sexiest voices to boot. And Caitilin (pronounced Kite-a-lynn) grew on me as the show wore on and made it pretty easy to root for once Lauren was unceremoniously bounced from the show.

Some of the best part of the show included having Richard start off the show with the tagline “Never kissed a girl,” then every time he kissed one of the girls on the show, it would change real time until it read “Kissed 3 girls.” Richard’s date with Lauren. Every time the girls tries to say something smart but backfired, “1942 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Chuck almost killing Richard in the finale. Richard’s response when finding out Mindi was a size 0. “Size 0? That means you don’t exist.” Lauren explaining how she has an IQ of 500. There are just too many more to name.

Next week is the reunion show, should be a good time if only to see Lauren once last time. Supposedly they will dish the dirt about the romances that when on in the house, which I assume were just for the cameras. And with the success of the first season, a second season will be coming to a television screen near you in the near. And if I could make a suggestion to Ashton Kutcher to make next season better – cast me. My words tend to get scrambled when I’m in the presence of token hot chicks. I’m about 3 IQ points away from MENSA’s requirement, granted it’s still well shy of Lauren’s IQ. I even own the same shirt the Richard wore in an episode (that would be the yellow one pictured above). So Ashton, shout me a holla dogg. (See, I even have my own cheesy catch phrase. Although you may have to pay Ben Siller royalties.)

Beauty and the Geek 1x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Throw Up Your Diamonds Like You’re Bulimic

About five years ago I saw a documentary on diamond mines in Africa that linked terrorist to the people running these mines. They also used children as slaves to work in the mines for twelve hours plus a day. I was so appalled at the actions I decided to not to wear any diamonds, which wasn’t much as I had never wore a diamond before. So to take it a step forward I decided not to wear any type of jewelry including necklaces or watches. For timekeeping purposes I do keep a cheap athletic watch in my pocket. The only “glamour” item I wear these days is my LiveStrong bracelet. And then whenever I get asked why I don’t wear anything, as I do get asked about the watch frequently, I then explain the how the majority of diamonds sold in the US are Blood Diamonds and that money goes to fund terrorist. I typically get a response of indifference as we currently live in the bling-bling era. And forget trying to explain the actions to the fairer sex whose main goal in life, starting at a young age, is getting that rock from Prince Charming.

I had to laugh a couple years back when the government released advertisements on TV that said if you smoke marijuana you are supporting terrorist as the majority of pot consumed in the US is grown in grown in Kentucky. Now if you are taking about opiates, then yes that was the biggest export in Afghanistan and was a money maker for the Taliban. Cocaine grown in Columbia would be another good example. But smoking pot doesn’t help terrorist except to make our population dumber and thus easier to attack. I remember at the time it would have been a much better message if the ad would have said “People who by diamonds support terrorists.”

With the recent publicity surround Africa brought on by Live 8, there was a lot of talk about ending poverty, debt relief, and free trade, but there was barely a whisper of Blood Diamonds. The lone voice who brought up the discussion was Kanye West with his performance of Diamonds from Sierra Leone. While the song itself doesn’t touch on the subject aside from the title, the video (check it out here) opens with the narration of a working in a diamond mind explaining the how the owners of the mines exploited him and other. The rest of the video depicts children of the mines “haunting” people who have purchased Blood Diamonds including West himself. For the Diamonds From Sierra Leone Remix (featuring Jay-Z), West does take on the issue. Here is his verse from the remix:

Good Morning, this ain't Vietnam still
People lose hands, legs, arms for real
Little was known of Sierra Leone
And how it connect to the diamonds we own
When I speak of Diamonds in this song
I ain't talkin bout the ones that be glown
I'm talkin bout Rocafella, my home, my chain
These ain't conflict diamonds,is they Jacob? don't lie to me mayne
See, a part of me sayin' keep shinin',
How? when I know of the blood diamonds
Though it's thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today
Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses
I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless
'til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
And here's the conflict
It's in a black person's soul to rock that gold
Spend ya whole life tryna get that ice
On a polar rugby it look so nice
How could somethin' so wrong make me feel so right, right?
'fore I beat myself up like Ike
You could still throw ya Rocafella diamond tonight

Now I don’t expect for you to take the issue to the extreme like I have, all I ask is that you make sure the diamonds that you do purchase come from legit businesses that adhere to child labor laws and are in no way associated with terrorist organizations. For more information on Blood Diamonds, chack out the Amnesty International website on the subject.

Money, It's a Crime

Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie.

After every major awards show, it is inevitable that most of the performers and winners see substantial sales spike in their albums and it seems that Live 8 was no different as every artist in London saw an increase of the album. Bring up the rear with only a 3% increase was Coldplay, but then again their latest album had been number one on the charts for the last couple weeks. Leading the pack was the reunited Pink Floyd who saw their greatest hits package, Echoes, go up a whopping 1343% on Sunday compared with last week. Not to be influenced by their own lyrics (see title) Pink Floyd are, yet again, doing the right thing when they noticed the sales increase and donate all their profits from the sales to Live 8. Guitarist Dave Gilmore said:

Though the main objective has been to raise consciousness and put pressure on the G8 leaders, I will not profit from the concert. If other artists feel like donating their extra royalties to charity, perhaps then the record companies could be persuaded to make a similar gesture and that would be a bonus. This is money that should be used to save lives.

I am not aware of artists asides from Paul McCartney, doing so yet, but hopefully some more will start falling in line with Pink Floyd.

Speaking of donating to Live 8, if you want a copy of U2 and Paul McCartney performing Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at the opening of Live 8, follow the link to iTunes and pick up a copy for yourself with the proceeds going to Live 8 charity. Also if you missed a certain performance you wanted to see but MTV/VH1 cut it off or just didn't show it at all, AOLMusic is streaming all (I think) of the individual acts so you don't have to sit and hope you catch it on the live feed.

Back to Pink Floyd, their reunion got me thinking whether or not this will be a one time affair or maybe we will see Gilmore and Roger Waters back together again. Keep in mind that it’s been about thirty years since the two had talked. They even had to go through an intermediary to finalize the previously mentioned Echoes greatest hits album. Waters even boycotted Floyd’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 to avoid being in the same room as Gilmore. Gilmore instead had to duet with Billy Corgan on the appropriate Wish You Were Here. They continued their grudge even as other 70’s acts such as The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Kiss cashed in big time with reunion tours in the late 90’s. But watching their Live 8 performance, one might think that the fence might finally been mended as both Gilmore and Rodgers look happy and playful sharing the same stage, albeit as they stayed far away from each other while performing as well as the Hey Jude finale. I am interested if there were any hugs or handshakes at the end of their performance but unfortunately MTV/VH1 cut to performance before that happened. So if anyone saw the live feed, please leave a comment to let me know if there was any kind of effort by either to show a sign of solidarity.

I have a feeling that we will not be seeing any new Pink Floyd album that features Waters in any capacity. Nor do I think that there will be any full-fledged “Back for More Cash” reunion tour á la The Eagles. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they take a page out of Cream’s recent playbook and have a run of show in London (most likely Wembley Stadium) and donate the gate to charity. But this will lead to a sticky situation with a playlist as songs like post-Waters songs such as Learning to Fly and High Hopes have become Floyd classics. Would Rodgers agree to perform these songs? Would he instead have a stand-in play those songs? Would he insist that none of those songs be played? Hopefully we will find out the answers to these questions sometime soon.

I Hope You'll Got Yo Playa Cards

I was first interested to R. Kelly in high school when a lady friend mentioned she recently bought his album 12 Play. The only song I had heard of his was the ode to sex, Bump n’ Grind. That wouldn’t be too surprising a girl listening to that kind of music today, but keep in mind I went to school a few years before girls started going wild. On my next trip to the record store, I decided to take a look at the album and it had such songs as Freak Dat Body, Sex Me (Part 1 & 2), and my personal favorite, I Like the (expletive deleted) on You. So as a teenage, I just had to buy it. Since then, I’ve bought one other R. Kelly album (the self titled one), and it also seems Mr. Kelly has gotten himself into some legal problems.

You can divide R. Kelly's latest album, TP.3 Reloaded basically into three parts, the party jams, slow jams, and the album closing five part hip-hopera, Trapped in the Closet. The biggest problem with this album he avoids any uplifting songs like I Believe I Can Fly, U Saved Me, or even an I Wish type of song.

As for the party jams, all of them seem to be populated with sub-par rappers that do not stand up to the star power of Kelly. Whenever you bring guest appearances, you should always bring in someone who will make the song better not worse. The Game, the most boring rapper out today, brings an uninspiring verse on the opener Playa’s Only. Elephant Man (no, seriously, that what he goes by) completely ruins what could have be the album’s best jam, Reggae Bump, Bump. Baby just can’t compete with R. Kelly on Girls Go Crazy neither can Twista on Hit it Till the Mornin. Snoop Dogg is solid as usual but Summertime does come off almost as a remix for Snoop’s Signs.

The second part is the slow jams or as I like to put it, R. Kelly likes having sex. Lots of sex. In many different ways. The problem with that is that inherently conjures up images of Kelly, um, how do I want to put this, allegedly relieving himself on an underage girl. And yes, it’s safe to say it was his. As a wise man once told me, “You’re not going to let the captain of the football team (expletive deleted) on you.” So these songs are rendered useless because if any guy wants to hook up, he can’t put this album on and instead will have to reach for Boyz II Men because the last thing you want to do in that situation is to creep your girl out. The worst of the songs is Sex in the Kitchen that has too many double meaning that includes food. Adam Sandler did this years ago with the funny Food Innuendo Guy but Kelly doing a seriously version doesn’t work. And out of nowhere in the song Kelly screams “Girl I’m ready to toss your salad.” (Waiting to see if that gets by the censors. Mmm, apparently the censor doesn’t know the other meaning. Unfortunatly, I do) Let me just say ewwwwwwwww. That just leads credence to what allegedly went down on the video tape. I wonder if that can be admissible in court as a pattern of disgusting behavior in the bedroom?

But the highlight is the five part opera, Trapped in the Closet, that closes the album. The opera is quite easily the funniest thing ever recorded that didn’t involve “Weird Al” Yankovic. The opera is narrated by Kelly who woke up in a woman’s bed that wasn’t his wife. And apparently she is also married and her husband is on his way up the stairs. From there the opera has more turn than a NASCAR track. Each chapter of the opera builds up to a crescendo and end with a cliffhanger that rivals Desperate Housewives. For the end of chapter one, Kelly gives the play by play for the wronged husband, “He walks up to the closet, gets closer to the closet, now he’s at the closet, now he’s opening the closet, closet, closet.” I will not give anymore away as it might ruin the experience of the whole opera, but there were about ten laugh out load moments throughout the five chapters.

But wait there, is more. As if closing out the album with the hip-hopera wasn’t enough, the album is accompanied with a DVD of Trapped in the Closet with R. Kelly himself playing the lead character and other character acting out each five chapters. Nothing is funnier than when Kelly makes the sounds of a police siren, “woo, oo, woo, oo, woo, oo.” The DVD only is worth the price of admission itself and you can just use the CD as a Frisbee or something after burning Trapped in the Closet on your favorite mp3 player. For those who would like to see it for yourself 1st, check out VH1 tonight at 11:00 or you can stream the video on MTV.com.

Song(s) to Download: Trapped In the Closet

TP3:Reloaded gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Trapped in the Closet DVD gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

A Letter to Sanity’s Bluff

I originally planned not to post anything today so I could enjoy our (or mine to my foreign friends) nation’s birthday. But last night I was wondering around the web last night when I can across a site blog last night that had some bad things to say about the Live 8 and its message. As a fan as the show and the cause (scroll down to the next post to see my review) I was a little unhappy with this dude’s assessment of the concert especially since he didn’t do he research on the subject and printed some straight up lies. So I decide to write him a little comment setting things straight. Of course a little quickly turned to a lot as I wrote for about an hour. Then when I went to send my comment only to find out as I wrote, the dude turned off his comments. Hi received what he called “comment terrorist.” Apparently there were people leaving vulgar comment. Granted, I just call these people idiots as I fell terrorist is a little harsh. So instead of wasting my comment, I decided to post it here, so if you would please, hop over to Sanity’s Bluff and read Been to a Wild Part Lately? And read his original post than come back here to read my comment in its entirety. And feel free to leave you opinion on the subject in my comment section about either his post or my reply.

A Letter to Sanity’s Bluff

There are a lot of holes in that post. First off, Africa was invited to the party as there was a concert held in Johannesburg. The face of Africa, Nelson Mandela was there. Also Bob Geldolf brought a woman to the stage that was given 10 minutes to live 20 years ago and thanks to money raised by Live Aid, the young woman is now in college in Ethiopia. I dare you to watch this moment and not cry like a little girl. But apparently help did get to Africa.

Secondly, yes Africa is worse off then they were 20 years ago, but this due to years of civil war that make it hard to import humanitarian aid. Read Black Hawk Down to see exactly how hard this can be. Also high tariffs hurt the local economy on the continent.

And how exactly do you know that Bob Geldolf is “much richer” now than he was twenty years? Geldolf runs a non-profit organization and I can’t imagine that the residuals from his Boomtown Rats days to really bring in too much money these days. As for the other artist, I haven’t even heard from must of them since Live Aid except for episodes of Where Are They Now, and let me tell you, none are “much richer than they were back then. Now if you wrote that without knowing the facts, you are no better than Dan Rather.

Thirdly, it is very wrong to pigeonhole the people involved as liberals. I am a conservative, and I support their case. If you have seen the commercial for The One Campaign, you would also see Pat Robertson along side Brad Pitt and Bono in the ad. It doesn’t get more conservative that Pat Roberson. Bill Gates was at the event and nothing says corporate domination like the dude who runs Microsoft. They also brought in such “red state” acts as Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, and Mr. Courtasy of the Red, White, and Blue himself, Toby Keith. So to call these people (including myself) liberals is just plain ignorant, not to mention the “liberals” are already one step ahead of you on recruiting “conservatives” to their cause. Instead of suggesting that the liberal recruit conservative, have you ever thought maybe about joining the liberals on this issue like me and many other conservatives already have?

Fourthly, when you wrote, “aging rock stars, hungry for one more spotlight, and an assortment of dogooders” is doing a diservice to many of the acts that showed up. Members Pink Floyd have not taked for about thrirty years let alone performed together over that time. They did not get back together for big payday/reunion tour. They didn’t even get back together for “one more spotlight” when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They got back together, as Rodger Waters said, because it was the right thing to do. Kanye West, at the risk of being sued, played the Live 8 even though he had an apperence in New Orleans on the same day.

Fifthly, saying, “more money was spend (Scooter’s note: actually I think spent is the correct tense, not that I’m a English teacher or anything, but anyways) pampering the millionaire musicians and their friends, than the total given by the 160 'artists’ participating in the L8 concerts, but they demanded charity from everyone else” is a diservice to everyone who donated their time to help make sure the consert ran properly. Also they did not demand charity from anyone as all the tickets to all the event were free.

Also you should suggest that Africa should turn to faith based charity. To take a page out of your ignorant page book: I got two words for you – James Baker. So how does it feel to be pigeonholed? I really doubt that a faith based charity will be able to raise enough money to settle the billions of dollars they are indebted with. And they defiantly cannot end the civil wars and economic turmoil that plagues the continent. The only people that can do anything substantial to help are the politicians. That is what Bob Geldolf and the people of his ilk learn from Live Aid and that is why Live 8 focused on encouraging those who can actually make a difference to do so.

In the end, Bob Geldolf and his ilk can go to sleep knowing they tried to help the continent of Africa. It may not be much, but at least it was something, which is at least better than just sitting at a computer and complaining about people who actually try to help. So what I would like to do now is to invite you and the people of your ilk to hop over to my website and click on The One banner and join myself (and like I mentioned ealier, even conservitives including Pat Robertson) to encourage the G8 to end poverty in Africa because liberals cannot do it on they own and neither can conservatives, everybody needs to help off. (Unless you don’t care that a child dies every three seconds because of poverty, then in that cause, just ignore this whole comment.)


Note from Scooter: As of 1:00 EST, Sanity's Bluff has put his comments back, so you can leave your thoughts about his post over there, but please, don't be a comment terrorist, or as I like to refer to them, idiots.

World Keep on Turning, Cause it Won't Be Too Long

Amazing day yesterday as I spent over ten hours glued to either my TV screen or computer screen watching the Live 8 concerts. I was a little disappointed in the MTV/VH1/ABC coverage as I was under the impression that MTV and VH1 would be doing two separate broadcasts with maybe one focusing on the Philadelphia concert and the other focusing in on the London concert. Instead we got one solo show just showed on two separate channels. What a waste of airtime. And being that it was MTV, what we got was small snippets of some the performances instead of full one or even full songs in most case. They rarely went outside of London of Philadelphia stopping into Paris once (Shakira), Berlin three times (twice for Green Day, once for Audioslave), Japan once (Good Charlotte), Canada twice (Jet, Simple Plan), Africa twice and they never went to Rome once. And there is a good list of great performers that didn’t even make it to TV:

Sarah McLachlan (with some dude named Josh Groban on Angel)
Brian Wilson
Snow Patrol
Ms. Dynamite
The Cure
Sheryl Crow
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Duran Duran
Barenaked Ladies
Byran Adams
Pet Shop Boys
P. Diddy
Lauryn Hill
Neil Young
Rob Thomas (Well that wasn’t much of a loss actually)

And the song selection was poor sometimes too. We had to sit threw Will Smith’s Switch when they could have let us see the classic Summertime or the cheesily entertaining Theme to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. So I found myself watching more and more from my computer thanks to AOLMusic.com. Here are some of my highlights.

Goosebumps moments:
- Paul McCartney with U2 in doing Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band live for the first time ever with some faux Beatles in Pepper outfits playing french horns
- U2’s set including their version of Unchained Melody
- Coldplay bringing out Richard Ashcroft to sing Bittersweet Symphony
- Black Eyed Peas with Stephan and Rita Marley to sing Get up Stand Up
- Kanye West backed by a Sting section
- Dido joined by Youssou N'Dour during Thank You
- The opening to Dave Matthews Band's Dreamgirl
- Robbie Williams singing Angels they way it supposed to - without Jessica Simpson
- Green Day covering Queen’s We Are the Champions
- Stevie Wonder and Adam Levane of Maroon 5 doing a duet on Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours
- Pink Floyd whole set, extra Goosebumps at the beginning of each song
- Maroon 5 covering Neil Young’s Rockin in the Free World
- Alicia Keys’ tribute to Luther Vandross
- Jay-Z backed by Linkin Park who did a faithful Public Service Announcement

Tear Jerkers:
- Bob Geldolf bring out an African Girl who, at the time of Live Aid, was only given ten seconds to live
- Annie Lennox playing Why over a montage of AIDS victims
- The finale in London with everyone singing Hey Jude with Paul McCartney

Other interesting tidbits:
- Snoop Dogg was able to get 5 F-bombs pass the MTV censors (and the N-word once). Granted he mumbles some and they weren’t part of the song. The bigger slip was they Pink Floyd let the blatant word in Pink Floyd’s Money or maybe they let it slip because it Floyd.
- Beyoncé wore a skirt that was as short as it could have been without showing off her Kootchiepop.
- I was a little disappointed that no one pulled a Phil Collins this year.
- The only American acts in Rome - Tim McGraw & Faith Hill?
- UB40 were introduced saying they were going to perform a medley of their hits. Shouldn’t it been a medley of other people’s hits?
- Who invited Randy Jackson? I had to laugh when I spotted him playing a tiny keyboard when Mariah Carey already had two keyboarders on stage with two large keyboards themselves.
- What was up with Stevie Wonder’s moustache/beard thing around his mouth? Who let him out of the house like that?
- There were a lot of lyric changes to reflect the festivities including U2, Sting but my favorite was Kanye West switch the line in Jesus Walks into, “And George Bush gets paid off of all of that.”
- When I saw you could download Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club from the concert on iTunes, I thought the whole concert would be available, but alas the only other song available (for now hopefully) was The Long and Winding Road. Click on the links to get them for yourselves.

If you missed the concert, AOLMusic.com is still streaming Paris, Canada, and Philadelphia. London was stopped sometime during the 1st rebroadcast and Berlin was taken offline sometime last night. Hopefully there is a comprehensive DVD coming because, even after all I watch, there is still a lot I missed.

Live 8

I'm currently watching the Live 8 concerts. Check them out for yourself at AOLMusic.com. If you missed it, they are rebroadcasting it there too.

Come In Here, Dear Boy, Have a Cigar

With the reunited Pink Floyd showing up at Live 8 tomorrow, it seems only right that my favorite Floyd album be the next inductee into the Scooter Hall of Fame. Granted Wish You Were Here was a concept album about the one member who most likely won’t be showing up this weekend Syd Barrett. To be honest, I’m not even sure if Barrett is even still alive.

I was originally turned on to Floyd during the early nineties when The Division Bell was released. Sonically, it was different from anything I have ever heard before. Then, like most of my generation who missed out on the Waters’ era, I went back and discovered their earlier work. Although most of the rest of my generation were drawn more to Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall, I always thought that Wish You Were Here was their best work.

The album somehow is able to have Floyd’s most adventurous song and it’s most simple song on the same album and makes them work within the concept of the album. Shine on You Crazy Diamond is a massive opus that bookends the album with parts I-V opening up the album and VI-IX closing it out. Each part takes the listener to a different place sonically even though only two of the parts feature singing. On the other end of the spectrum, the title track is a simple, but effective, song with dual acoustic guitars intertwining throughout the song. And even though the song was about their lost friend Barrett, Wish You Were Here is a great song to listen to if you are missing a friend, family, or significant other.

Filling out the rest of the album are Welcome to the Machine and Have a Cigar. Neither of the songs would be found on anyone’s top 50 Floyd song list, but both capture the “machine” of the music business and how it could drive someone crazy.

Artwork in another big aspect of the Floyd experience and Wish You Were Here has the most striking artwork in their history. It is a picture that appears to at a movie studio (or part of the machine) with two men (very seventies looking might I add) shaking hands. Only one of the men is on fire. Also the picture is bordered by a light yellow, but if you look at the upper-right hand corner, you’ll notice a little of the border has been burned off. It is very subtle and a great introduction to a brilliant album.

We're One But We're Not the Same

What I would like for you to do is to take a look to the left of your screen at the banner I have had up for a couple weeks. I’m sure you have all seen the annoying ads on the TV by now with the likes of Brad Pitt and Bono. But at the heart of the campaign is a good cause. They are trying to get the United States as well as the worlds other wealthiest countries to eliminate extreme poverty and global AIDS. As a fiscal conservative (unlike our spend happy President) I am almost always against more spending that will raise are already massive national debt, but the thought of people, including many kids, who die daily from starvation (50,000 or every three seconds to be precise) trumps any fiscal concerns I might have. So if you would like to join the cause, go ahead and click any of the links and fill out the simple declaration. While you are there, you can even pick up one of the wristbands that have become the official charity accessory (myself, I just stick with the solitary LiveStrong wristband). Also check out the Live 8 concert on MTV and VH1 airing this weekend featuring Coldplay, Snoop Dogg, Audioslave, Dave Matthews Band, Stevie Wonder and a reunited Pink Floyd in London. I hear a DVD will follow too, and even if it didn’t go to a good cause would be worth the cost with the Pink Floyd reunion.

We On Award Tour - 2005 ESPY Nominations

Another awards show that has been solid over the last couple years is the ESPY’s put on by ESPN. Granted I, and most like you, have no clue what ESPY stand for, but anyways. With MTV constantly putting on bad award shows (thanks Jimmy Fallon), the ESPY's are poised to overtake the MTV awards as the most entertaining award show of the year. Like the MTV Movie Awards, the awards are picked by us, the audience, so make sure you drop by ESPN.com and vote. Matthew Perry is your host and I feel he should at the very least do a solid job. The best part of the ESPY's, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, has yet to be anounced. So here is the list of nominees and who I voted for. Keep in mind this is an abridged list as I could care less about awards handed out to Best WNBA Player, Best Outdoor Athlete, or the Best Person Who Can Only Make Left Turns.

Best Female Athlete
Seimone Augustus, LSU Basketball
Natalie Coughlin, U.S. Swimming
Maria Sharapova, WTA
Annika Sorenstam, LPGA

Who I Voted For: Natalie Coughlin.
Who Will Win: Maria Sharapova

First of all you need to eliminate Annika because a golfer should never be named best athlete. Then gold metals trump any other award and Coughlin got two last summer. And her vote has nothing to do with her being on my top 5 list.

Best Male Athlete
Lance Armstrong, cyclist
Payton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
Bode Miller, U.S. Ski Team
Michael Phelps, U.S. Swim Team
Vijay Singh, professional golfer

Who I Voted For: Michael Phelps
Who Will Win: Lance Armstrong

Again, for me, gold medals trump everything and Phelps’ eight tied an Olympic Record. But Armstrong has won the last two tears so I expect a repeat.

Best Team
Baylor Women’s Basketball
Boston Red Sox
New England Patriots
San Antonio Spurs
USC Football

Who I Voted For: San Antonio Spurs
Who Will Win: San Antonio Spurs

No college team has ever won this, and there is a good reason for that, so you can throw out those two teams. Boston/New England will split the vote, so I have a feeling that everyone will vote like me and go for the only team left. Unless Sox Nation makes some pact for New Englander only vote for one team. NC Basketball has to wondering how they got left off in favor of Baylor.

Best Coach
Bill Belichicken, New England Patriots
Pete Carroll, USC Football
Terry Francona, Boston Red Sox
Gregg Popovich
Roy Williams, UNC Men’s Basketball

Who I Voted For: Gregg Popovich
Who Will Win: Gregg Popovich

See Best Team for reasons. Although I think Williams has an outside chance with some pity votes, but he coached college where one coach has won. And surprisingly that was Gary “She’s Awful” Barnett.

Best Championship Performance
Deion Branch, New England Patriots
Matt Leinart, USC Football
Sean May, UNC Men’s Basketball
Curt Schilling, Boston Red Sox

Who I Voted For: Sean May
Who Will Win: Curt Schilling

It’s a same that Schilling will win this award. After a year of crusades against performance enhancing drugs in baseball, an award will go to a guy who uses performance enhancing drugs. And if you don’t think what Shilling shot into his ankle before his games were not performance enhancing, you are naïve.

Best Male Olympic Performance
Michael Phelps, Swimming
Cael Sanderson, Wrestling
Jeremy Wariner, Tack & Field

Who I Voted For: Michael Phelps
Who Will Win: Michael Phelps

Phelps was the golden boy (pun intended) of the Olympics so he will win, and he should because of his record performance.

Best Female Olympic Performance
Natalie Coughlin, Swimming
Carly Patterson, Gymnastics
Team USA Softball

Who I Voted For: Natalie Coughlin
Who Will Win: Team USA Softball

It seems a little unfair to have a whole team in competition, but anyways. And didn’t Patterson choke in the team competition to cost the US the gold?

Best Play
Matt Brown, Wichita State Baseball
Chuck Caruthers
Blake Hoffarber
Tiger Woods at the Masters

Who I Voted For: Blake Hoffarber
Who Will Win: Tiger Woods

Blake, if you remember, is the kid from Minnesota who forced overtime his state championship game by hitting a three-pointer while lying on his back. Sadly, Woods will win by name recognition alone.

Best Upset
Bucknell Men’s Basketball (vs. Kansas)
Giacomo (vs. the field)
Puerto Rico Men’s Basketball (vs. Team USA)
Vermont Men’s Basketball (vs. Syracuse)

Who I Voted For: Bucknell Men’s Basketball
Who Will Win: Puerto Rico Men’s Basketball

Giacomo is eliminated because he’s not human. Many people had Vermont going deep into the bracket. Puerto Rico was an upset, but no one was that surprised, but on the other hand, Bucknell destroys many, including me, people’s brackets.

Best Comeback
Kayla Burt, Washington Basketball (Suffered Cardiac Arrest)
Mark Fields, Carolina Panthers (Cancer)
Rulon Gardner, Wrestling (Amputated Toes)
Jordon Sigalet, Bowling Green Hockey (Multiple Sclerosis)

Who I Voted For: Mark Fields
Who Will Win: Rulon Gardner

This is the hardest category as all are worthy of an award, but I have to say cancer is a hard thing to comeback from after all the radiation treatments.

Best Breakthrough
Danica Patrick, IRL
Ben Roethlisburger, Pittsburg Steelers
Maria Sharapova, Tennis
Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat

Who I Voted For: Maria Sharapova
Who Will Win: Dwyane Wade

Wow, Danica can turn left 1000 time (sarcasm). And like Wade and Big Ben, didn’t win anything last year. I’ll take a winner.

Best Record Breaking Performance
New England Patriots (21 straight wins)
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts (49 TD’s)
Pat Summitt, Tennessee Woman’s Basketball (882 career wins)
Ichiro Suzuki (262 hits)

Who I Voted For: Ichiro Suzuki
Who Will Win: Peyton Manning

Summitt gets thrown out for caching Women’s Basketball, NE didn’t do it in a single season, and Manning’s will be broken soon with the new rules in place. So Ichiro should win by default.

Best Sports Movie
I abstained from this category as the best sports movie, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story was sadly overlooked.

Under Armour Undeniable Performance Award
Braylon Edwards
Misty May and Kerry Walsh
Terrell Owens
David Pollack

Who I Voted For: Misty May and Kerry Walsh
Who Will Win: Terrell Owens

I have no idea what this award is for, so I just went with the gold metal winners. Of course, this award make about as much sense as:

GMC Professional Grade Play Award
Lance Armstrong, Cycling
Curtis Martin, New York Jets
Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
Pat Summitt, Tennessee Basketball

Who I Voted For: Lance Armstrong
Who Will Win: Lance Armstrong

Umm, I’ve ran out of something deep to say so I’ll just stop there with the predictions.



On a side note, I want to give a congratulations to my boy Craig Biggio who broke the record for most hit by a pitch in a career. To show just how big those hits are, Biggio scored on a third of his record breaking HBP’s. So I already know who I’ll be voting for next year’s Best Record Breaking Performance for the ESPY’s.

We R in Need of a MusicalReVoLuTion

And that is what you will get with the debut major label album by Esthero. She definitely isn’t like Britney or Ashanti, two artist who she takes potshots in the opening track off of Wikked Lil’ Grrrls. MTV and the radio, and their repetitiveness, are also a major target in the first track We R in Need of a MusicalReVoLuTion. But after the brass opening track, Esthero mellows out for most of the rest of the album.

Esthero’s strong suit is that she can switch and mix up genres better than any one out there today. Most of her music has an old-time feel with the infusion of jazz and soul yet some songs do have modern hip-hop and dance grooves. This is most evident in the title track of the album that has a ragtime feel to it. And the music is provided mostly by musicians, not a drum loop played over and over again. And many different instruments are utilized throughout the album. The bouncy Everyday is a Holiday (With You) sound like a Chicago song with the horns section. Well that’s if Chicago had a female lead singer.

There a few high profile guest spots on the album with Sean Lennon Everyday is a Holiday (With You) and Andre' 3000 on Junglebook and Cee-Lo Green helps out on Gone. Cee-Lo does stick out like a sore thumb on an otherwise great track, and it would had been better if he had been left off the song.

Song to Download - Wikked Lil’ Grrrls

Wikked Lil’ Grrrls gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

We Tease Him a Lot...

In yet another mind numbing decision for the Cavs this offseason, the team brought back one of their biggest bust of all time, Danny Fairy. So now the Cavs now have a novice general manager and a novice head coach. I can’t imagine they will do any better than the Paxson/Silas duo. I have this theory that the owner, Dan Gilbert, has a master plan where he runs the team in the ground for so long that they bring back the Major League movie franchise but instead focus on Cleveland basketball team. Then Gilbert will make crazy money off the box office revenue. . Seriously, with Usher as a minority owner, that script writes itself.

Although I guess Fairy does know a lot about how having one stiff taking too much of the salary cap as he hurt they Cavs with his cap hit during the early nineties. I’m say Fairy was the reason I jumped ship from the Cavs at the time to start rooting for the Supersonic (you know, back when they were Super), but I was a big Ron Harper fan in my youth. And still am as I still have a Cavs poster circa 1988 with him, “Hot Rod” Williams, Larry Nance, and Mark Price. Ironically, well not really that ironic, this was around the last time the Cavs were competitive. Fairy was even asked if he would have made that trade with him and Harper. Fairy just laughed and said, “No comment.”

But at least the Cleveland teams are consistent in they fleece the championship teams. So whoever is the bench coach for the World Series champs this year, be prepared to get a season pass to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because you just may be the new skipper for the Indians next season.

Bye the way, the title is a Welcome Back Kotter reference. Granted I was being a little more cynical than John Sebastian.

No One's Gonna Save You From the Beast About to Strike

So what would happen if you replaced the hero of a zombie movie with a bubbling slacker? Well if you are British, you get Shaun of the Dead. The movie starts out following Shaun around his mundane life. He’s still working at a computer store. He still sits in front of the TV flipping channels with his buddy Ed, who is a bigger loser than Shaun is. But his world comes crashing down when his girlfriend dumps him. Oh and the whole city is being turned into zombies, not that Shaun or Ed even notice. That’s until Ed notices a weird girl hanging out in their garden. This gives Shaun the idea on how to get his girlfriend back, sweep her off her feet and take her to safety. But Shaun and Ed are no Will Smith and Bruce Willis so hilarity ensues.

The major problem with the movie is that their too many spots in the movie where the scenes are not funny or scary. With a movie that mixes humor with gore, there should be a least one going on at all time. Another problem with the movie is that there is some things that are lost in the translation as it is a British film. While I was watching it, I wondered out load, “Why would Shaun have a paddle in his shed and why would he grab that?” Someone then pointed out that it was a cricket bat. And there were a few places where the British slang just went over of my head.

The DVD extras include the usual trailer, documentaries (extremely boring), deleted and extended scenes (good choice taking these out), and blooper reel. One very inventive feature was the inclusion of comics that plugs so holes in the story. No if only every movie did this. Also, during the film, Shaun and Ed flip through the TV pretty quickly, so in the extra they show extended versions of what they flipped past including a interview with Coldplay who lost some of their members to the zombies and what looks to be the British version of Jerry Springer.

With everything that had be popular oversees, I predicted we will get an Americanized version of Shaun of the Dead (spelled Shawn instead) within five years with Stifler as Shawn, Jack Black as Ed, Kate Bosworth as Liz, the nerdy dude from The O.C. as David, some token hot chick as Dianne, and Burt Reynolds as Phillip. And in hopes to rejuvenate his career, Michael Jackson will don the Thriller makeup one more time to be the head zombie that leads the other zombie in a zombie dance. Just make sure Shawn grabs a baseball bat out of the shed.

Shaun of the Dead gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Car Mix - June '05

Here is a list of the songs I'm listening to right now that fit on a single CD:

1. American Baby Intro – Dave Matthews Band
2. American Baby – Dave Matthews Band
3. Speed of Sound – Coldplay
4. Ashes – Embrace (Even though this is the best song from their album, you may want to check out the song Gravity which is free on iTunes this week.)
5. Since You Been Gone (Jason Nevins Remix) – Kelly Clarkson (I have already chronicled my love of this song a few times – I’m Soooooooooooooooooooo Moving On.)
6. Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) – Pet Shop Boys (The theme to my favorite new show of the summer, Beauty and the Geek. Stayed tune for a full review of the show coming soon.)
7. One Word – Kelly Osborne (I never though I’d like a song from her, but she did make a smart move going away from rock and into techno where it can hide poor singing ability. Ashlee Simpson, take note.)
8. Till I Get to You – Nikka Costa
9. 1 Thing (Remix) – Amerie & Jay-Z
10. Diamonds (From Sierra Leone) – Kanye West (A full review of this song and the accompanying video should be up in the next few days.)
11. Dreams – The Game (I don’t care too much for the Game, but the Kanye West production makes up for the lackluster rhyme skill.)
12. The Corner – Common, Kanye West, & Last Poets (The best rapper than no one listens to gets a little help from the best producer of the moment.)
13. You’re Gonna Luv Me – Da Backwudz (This song really sounds like it was produced by West with the sped up chorus.)
14. (Expletive deleted) Ain’t (expletive deleted) – Dr. Dre & Snoop Doggy Dogg (My love of the Ben Fold version made me dust off my Dre album just to hear the original.)
15. (Expletive deleted) Ain’t (expletive deleted) – Ben Folds
16. The Right Time – Joss Stone (yes this is the one from the Gap commercial. Get it for yourself, it free from the gap link. Or if you like paying, click the other link.)
17. Chariot (Stripped) – Gavin DeGraw
18. Breathe (2 AM) (Live - Hotel Café) – Anne Nalick

Musings From the Back 9 vol. VI

Found this over on Moxiegrrrl's website and can’t wait to get my hands on it. Although I can’t seem to find it for pre-order over at the Microsoft Store.

- I have tried to avoid commenting or even watching/reading about the Michael Jackson trial because I find no humor in a child molestation trail. Well that was until Triumph the Insult Comic Dog went to the trial. Check it out for yourself.

- I received my latest Rolling Stone magazine yesterday. Well the problem is actually I didn’t, what I did receive was the cover, and just the cover, in a plastic bag with a note from the United States Postal Service for damaging my mail. Umm, you didn’t damage my mail; you didn’t send me my mail. Damage would be ripping a page (which they have done before), you didn’t sent and entire issue. And to make things worse, they lost a double issue. So if anyone wants the Rolling Stone with Jessica Alba on the cover, shout me a holla dogg.

- Today is a sad day here on the 9^th Green as the pin has been lowered at half mast as one of my favorite whipping boys has reportedly decided to retire. Yes I’m referring to the great white hope from BYU, Shawn Bradley. Bradley must hold the record for appearing on the most number of posters in NBA history and he did it without ever being the focus of the poster. In honor of Bradley’s retirement, I must break out NBA Jam Extreme one more time for a classic Big Head Bradley vs. Big Head Muresan one more time.

- Weird Search(es) of the week:
rachael mcgavin from the notebook (Google)
hat does ryan gosling think about rachel mcadams kiss? (Google)

When did I become the authority on all things The Notebook? And these are just the tip of the iceberg as I picked out the most interesting ones, and no, I didn’t copy them wrong, that’s the searchers’ mistakes. Sadly, putting these her will most like only increase The Notebook volume to the 9^th Green.