Friday, January 09, 2009

Cleaning Out My Inbox vol. XIV


A plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Flight of the Concords, Battlestar Galactica, Dangerous Encounters, TNT, and one of those stupid blind items.

- It has been awhile since I mentioned you could watch the season two premiere of Flight of the Concords and if you are still on the fence on to watch the full length episode or not, here is a clip. And there is still time to submit you video to flightlipdub.com. And if you would rather watch the premiere tune into HBO on January 18. And if you are lucky I may have more on the show in the near future.



- The best show on television returns next Friday. But enough about Friday Night Lights. Also returning next Friday , and my sourse tell me is almost as good as FNL, is the final episodes of Battlestar Galactica. A bunch of webisodes were released this week and instead of posting them all, you can just head over to Hulu to catch them as well as a video of The Top Ten Things You Need to Know which you also watch this Sunday on the Sci-Fi Channel.

- A new episode of Dangerous Encounters where Brady tracks crocodile as they are forced out of their natural habitat thanks to a recently build dam in South Africa and worth checking out if to see one scared cameraman. Below is a clip:



- TNT is continuing to add more dramas to its network with the recently added Leverage and the upcoming Trust Me (more on that in a couple weeks). Also set to debut sometime in 2009 are two new shows. Jada Pinkett Smith stars as a nurse in Time Heals (which may be a cheesier title than Raising the Bar) while Dylan McDermott headlines the undercover police drama The Line.

Yesterday I had a sit down interview that I will post sometime next week. Here is a hint to their identity: They have worked with Robin Leach but were never featured on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Granted the people on my Facebook already know who it is because they are special and you could be too.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Best of 2008 Redux


Here we are a week into the New Year, but I want to take one last look at 2008 (for full Best and Worst of the year, be sure to click on the Best of 2008 label at the bottom of the post). First my annual list of artists that had the most impact on be over the past twelve months with how they ranked in my Best lists in parentheses):

Top Artists of the Year

1. Coldplay (Song: 7, 16; Reader’s 1, 11; Mash-up: 12; Live 16; Video: 13, 23, 28; Album: 3)

2. Taylor Swift (Song: 11, 23, 59; Live: 21, 25; Video: 20, 29; Album: 5)

3. Kanye West (Song: 29, 53, 54, 71, 77; Reader’s: 5; Mash-Up: 9, 24; Live: 1, 17; Video: 4, 9, 19)

4. The Roots (Song: 27, 43, 49; Video: 17, 21; Album: 8)

5. Gnarls Barkley (Song: 4, 12, 78; Video: 2, 10; Album: 6)


Next some self congratulatory lists some with the most read posts and labels you all read during the last year.

Most Popular Posts

1. But That Was When I Ruled the World

2. Best Television Shows of 2007-2008

3. Voted Most Likely to End up on the Back of a Milk Carton

4. And You’re Singing a Song Thinking This Is the Life

5. We On Award Tour: 2008 ESPY Nominations

6. Previewing When Weather Changed History

7. 25 Best Characters on Television

8. You Said I Must East So Many Lemon Because I Am so Bitter

9. Press Release: FX There Is No Box

10. First Impressions: Fans vs. Favorites

11. Breathe them Deep into Your Lungs

12. You Got Me on My Knees Begging Please

13. Fourth Annual Scooter Television Awards

14. 2008 Winter Music Preview

15. Previewing The Closer

16. First Impressions: The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Heroes

17. Our Name Is Our Virtue

18. One Hor Angel, One Cool Devil

19. Life Is a Maze and Love Is a Riddle

20. First and Second Impressions: Eli Stone

21. This Is Gonna Be Legendary, Wait for it… Dary

22. We Have to Go Back Kate

23. Cause God Stopped Keeping Score

24. 2008 Spring Music Preview

25. I Fear Change or Why Time Waner Wants Me to Cancel their Service


Most Viewed Labels

1. Best of 2007

2. Best of 2008

3. Olympics

4. Album Review

5. Veronica Mars

6. Kelly Clarkson

7. Beauty and the Geek

8. Contest

9. Chuck

10. Best of 2006

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

You Hold Your Head up to the Sky; You Say What Kind of Blue Are You


Love, Save the Empty - Erin McCarley

It is hard to predict radio hits anymore aside from your token bland rap dance tracks out there. But Pony (It’s OK) by Erin McCarley can easily replace Sara Bareilles as Love Song starts getting retired from playlists after a year and a half run. It is just as bouncy with the underlying sarcasm to break up the monotony of other female singer-songwriters who have been recreating Fiona Apple for the past decade.

That bouncy vibe continues on Sticky-Sweet, but with more a cabaret feel and it is refreshing to hear a song about candy that isn’t filled with obvious innuendo. Blue Suitcase sounds like something from a time long ago. The title track is a quirky ditty that fills out during the chorus. While Gotta Figure This Out and its soaring guitars sounds like a soundtrack for Friday Night Lights.

There are some the singer-songwriters clichés on Love, Save the Empty. Lovesick Mistake is just your run of the mill ballad meant for montage sequences on crappy television shows. Pitter-Pat is a slightly better ballad which borders on a lullaby. But bonus points for the bongos on Bobblehead.

A solid debut Love, Save the Empty is, but the sophomore record is the true test that tells if McCarley falls into obscurity, bound to easy listening radio staple, or someone with staying power. But for now, as Bareilles so pleasantly put it, there’ll be girls across the nation that will eat this up.

Song to Download - If you downloaded Pony (It’s OK) for free when I suggested, then go with Blue Suitcase

Love, Save the Empty gets a Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]on my Terror Alert Scale.




Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Previewing 10 Items or Less


The cast of 10 Items or Less

One thing that always works in comedy is the inept boss and you can count Leslie Pool, owner of the Greens and Grains, as one of them. You have no clue how the store stays in business, but you are glad it does so there are more episodes. And for the new season of 10 Items or Less, premiering tonight, it may be harder for the store to stay open thanks to the addition of Kim Coles (In Living Color), the manager from New York at SuperValueMart.

She starts off quick at the stickball competition that quickly turns into gambling. And of course the gambling isn’t traditional but on a new game created by the Meat guy Todd called Turkey Bowling, which is pretty self explanatory.

10 Items of List is a semi-scripted show and unlike many improvisational shows, the show is much more hit than missed. 10 Items or Less airs Tuesdays at 11:00 and you can catch up on previous season of 10 Items or Less on iTunes. Or get 10 Items or Less - Seasons 1 & 2 (there have only been thirteen episodes so far). For a clip of tonight’s premiere, check it out below (and if you are lucky I may have a cooler preview for the episode next week):



Monday, January 05, 2009

First Impressions: Confessions of a Teen Idol


The Cast of Confessions of a Teen Idol

Darn you VH1. After the Charm School Reunion (yeah, that fight was totally staged), I stuck around a couple seconds to see if Confessions of a Teen Idol was as cheesy as the premise sounded. Then sixty minutes later I wondered where the hour went. Darn you VH1. Why did Time Warner have to give you a last minute reprieve instead of axing all the Viacom owned cable channels? Hopefully Time Warner yanks the channel by the time Tool Academy premieres.

But I was sucked in from the get go. VH1 has to have the best editors ever because they seem to make the most inane things seem intriguing. Confessions of a Teen Idol takes seven former stars and give them another chance of stardom as men. Included in the mix are two Baywatch castoffs (Jeremy Jackson, David Chockachi), 80’s stars that I only know of because of their commentary from I Love the 80’s (Christopher Atkins, Adrian Zmed, and, um, I actually don’t remember the third guy but apparently he was in Fame: the series), and Eric Neis of all people. How exactly can you get someone whose lone claim to fame another chance at stardom? Beg the producers of the MTV Challenges to let him back on?

The only one of the bunch that you can really feel sorry for is Jamie Walters because the main reason why his career tanked was because a character he was playing pushed Donna Martin down the stairs. Guiding these formal idols through their journey: Chachi and Wayne Arnold. Also listed as producers on the show: Eric Bishoff and J.D. Roth. VH1, please give me back my soul.

The show seems to play off like an episode of Celebrity Rehab but the addiction is fame (as one of the therapist mentions in every promo for the show). But as it usually goes the least famous of the bunch, Neis, may turn out to be the most entertaining as it turns out he may be so insane that the producers had to put a disclaimer on the screen when he started talking about his ways to living a healthier life.

Verdict: Certainly not appointment television, but unless Time Warner actually pulls the station of its lineup, I sadly will eventually see most of the show through reruns. Darn you VH1. Confessions of a Teen Idol airs Sundays at 8:00 on VH1 and will repeat constantly throughout the week because it is VH1.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. LXI


Quote of the Week: Fate can be changed, Eli, except for when it can’t. (Frank, Eli Stone)

Song of the Week: No music this week, except of course you count my list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008

Big News of the Week: Welcome to 2009: Is anyone else disconcerted that we are one year away from the end of the decade and we have yet to settle on a nickname for the 00’s. I prefer it as O’s as in Cheerios but I have also heard the Aught’s. Even VH1 copped out naming their (premature) rundown of the decade I Love the New Millennium. So just for clarification purposes, if I were to make any best of the decade lists this year, I would want everyone to pronounce the decade like Cheerios when you read the title.

Leverage: It was a little too soon for anyone to get injured on the show. The show is much better the lighter it is and they really should have waited until the second season at least before they made a partner in serious peril episode. With that said, a nice twist being able to solve a second case while in the middle of a different heist. You can stream current episodes over at TNT.com. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.

Eli Stone: Hopefully that was it for the dark arts. Of course with only three episodes left there isn’t much time for anything. Let’s hope the show goes out with a bang. Actually let’s hope it doesn’t so I don’t have to ponder an ABC boycott. Of course one quick way to a boycott would be not showing them or the final Pushing Daisies episodes so we aren’t stuck having to get the DVD. The least they could do is burn them on Saturday when they just show reruns anyways. You can stream current episodes over at ABC.com. You can also download Eli Stone on iTunes.

Free Download of the Week: Pony (It’s OK) – Erin McCarley (iTunes): I heard this catchy ditty a while ago and have been waiting to take a listen to a full album which comes out this Tuesday (although you can currently download it on iTunes).

Next Week Pick of the Week: Rock of Love: Charm School, Tonight at 7:00 on VH1: Nothing I watch returns this week sans My Name Is Earl, but what I am really looking forward tonight is the reunion show where Sharon Osborne, the headmaster of Charm School who was there to teach the contestant how to be more like ladies, beats down one of her pupils. It is a little fishy that she just happens to attack Megan Hauserman who just happens to be getting her very own reality dating show and apparently no charges were filed. Not that I am accusing that anything VH1 does is staged.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Previewing Dangerous Encounters


A sixgill shark up close and personalEvery Saturday in January, the National Geographic Channel is airing a new episode of Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr. You may remember Barr from two years ago when he was famously bitten by a twelve foot long python. Well Barr has had time to recover an in the last episode in the series on January 24, he returns to that same cave again looking for rumored fifty foot pythons.

But before then, tonight Barr is on a journey to find the elusive Sixgill Shark (seen at right, so Spoiler Alert!: he finds them) which scientists have very little knowledge of the Jurassic sharks. Barr sets out to change that traveling to Central America, Puget Sound, Hawaii and 1,700 feet below the surface of the ocean (in the submarine seen at left). To put that in perspective, more people have seen the summit of Mt. Everest that been that far under the ocean.

Brady Barr in his yellow submarineThen next Saturday, Barr travels to South Africa to put satellite transmitters on crocodiles to see how they migrate after a dam threatens their current habitat and January will be on the hunt for the world’s largest salamanders which can grow up to five feet and eighty pound. I may go into further details about future shows later but until then, head over to the Dangerous Encounters website for these goodies:

"How to be like a gecko" Game: Take the Dangerous Encounters challenge and prove your gecko skills such as eye licking and wall climbing. How gecko are you?

Dangerous Encounters mobile trivia: Get your danger fix with weekly mobile trivia nd learn surprising facts about some of the world's most most menacing – and even some of the world's oddest – creatures!

Dangerous Encounters podcasts: Watch previews of Dangerous Encounters as Dr. Brady Barr travels around the globe on a series of death-defying, hair-raising expeditions to study reptiles and other creatures in their native habitats.



Friday, January 02, 2009

It Sounds Like Someone Has a Case of the Mondays


Office Space

As someone who grew up with a heavy dose of Beavis and Butt-Head, I was a little weary of Mike Judge making a live action film. Granted Office Space was actually based on an animated short that was featured during Liquid Television but ended up turning into a first ballot Scooter Hall of Fame inductee.

Even though at the point I first seen the movie I had only worked part time in an office, I could see how brilliantly it portray the life sucking ability sitting in a cubicle for eight hours a day for extended periods of time where you only have mimesweeper to keep you sane (of course this was before the proliferation of the internet and time suckers like Facebook). But nothing stung worse than the passive aggressive bosses like Lumburgh or having six bosses who all point when you make a mistake.

And nothing cut too close more than Michael “why should I change my name, he’s the one that sucks” Bolton whose scenes I have lived out in my personal life multiple times like turning down my gangsta rap, which made up most of the soundtrack in the movie and my formative years, in the car whenever near an actual black dude. Also my freshman year in college I had a very old school printer, the kind that had the paper with the scrolls on both sides to feed into the printer. To keep the story short, finals week it wouldn’t print something and later turned into pieces similar to the scene in the movie.

The cast is pitch perfect from the dry humor of Ron Livingston (Band of Brothers), the previously mentioned Gary Cole (The Brady Bunch Movie) to the bumbling Stephan Root (Idiocracy) and even the smaller roles such as the guy that brought an “O Face” into the lexicon. Thank and many other lines from Office Space has had permanent place in my own personal lexicon over the past decade since it has been released.



Wednesday, December 31, 2008

100 Best Songs of 2008


Much apologies for being late on this but it does come before the end of the year. And even a day late, this may not be the definitive list that makes up the playlist on my iPod. To pull back the curtain of the 9th Green, typically I have two or three (or ten) drafts of the best songs of the tear before I am content with the results. I doubt I will ever change this post but maybe sometime in the New Year I will make a playlist somewhere for you to listen the songs and post that here. Until then feel free to dissect this list (and if you want to how all 189 potential songs actually ranked, shout me a holla and I will e - mail you my spreadsheet) and hope to see you all back at the 9th Green in 2009 when I have some major projects planned throughout next year.

1. I’m Yours - Jason Mraz

2. Paper Planes - M.I.A.

3. Shine - Anna Nalick

4. Who’s Gonna Save My Soul - Gnarls Barkley

5. Cath... - Death Cab For Cutie

6. Where I Stood - Missy Higgins

7. Lost! - Coldplay

8. Come on Get Higher - Matt Nathanson

9. Hope - Jack Johnson

10. Strange Times - The Black Keys

11. Love Story - Taylor Swift

12. Going On - Gnarls Barkley

13. Free Fallin’ - John Mayer

14. Fix It - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

15. Love is Noise - The Verve

16. Viva la Vida - Coldplay

17. More Time - Needtobreathe

18. Amen - Kid Rock

19. Always a Friend - Alejandro Escovedo

20. Bottle it Up - Sara Bareilles

21. I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie

22. Warwick Avenue - Duffy

23. Picture to Burn - Taylor Swift

24. The Resolution - Jack's Mannequin

25. Nothing Ever Hurt Like You - James Morrison

26. Boys With Girlfriends - Meiko

27. Birthday Girl - The Roots and Patrick Stump

28. Listen - Amos Lee

29. Good Morning - Kanye West

30. Just a Dream - Carrie Underwood

31. I Got Mine - The Black Keys

32. Just Stand Up! - Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Natasha Bedingfield, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Carrie Underwood, Keyshia Cole, LeAnn Rimes, Ashanti, Ciara & Mariah Carey

33. Girls in Their Summer Clothes - Bruce Springsteen

34. This Is the Life - Amy MacDonald

35. Trashcan - Delta Spirit

36. Rock & Roll - Eric Hutchinson

37. If I Had Eyes - Jack Johnson

38. You Are the Best Thing - Ray LaMontagne

39. Your Song - Kate Walsh

40. Pumpkin Soup - Kate Nash

41. You Found Me - The Fray

42. Stepping Stone - Duffy

43. 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction) - The Roots

44. How I Could Just Kill a Man - Charlotte Sometimes

45. Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution - The Black Crowes

46. Lovebug - Jonas Brothers

47. Move - Q-Tip

48. Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

49. Get Busy - The Roots, Dice Raw, Peedi Peedi, and DJ Jazzy Jeff

50. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

51. Mercy - Duffy

52. Praying for Time - Carrie Underwood

53. Heartless - Kanye West

54. Us Placers - CRS

55. The Show - Lenka

56. The Truth - Jake One featuring Freeway & Brother Ali

57. What's Been Going On - Amos Lee

58. Dream Catch Me - Newton Faulkner

59. Change - Taylor Swift

60. Gettin’ Up - Q-Tip

61. Right as Rain - Adele

62. The Weight of Her - Butch Walker

63. The World Should Revolve Around Me - Little Jackie

64. Whatever You Like - “Weird Al” Yankovic

65. Fast Car - Wyclef Jean featuring Paul Simon

66. Foundations - Kate Nash

67. Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom) - N.E.R.D.

68. Slow Dance - John Legend

69. Madly - Tristan Prettyman

70. A-Punk - Vampire Weekend

71. Champion - Kanye West

72. Violet Hill - Coldplay

73. You Don't Know Me - Ben Folds featuring Regina Spektor

74. Crack the Shutters - Snow Patrol

75. If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 featuring Rihanna

76. Love That Girl - Raphael Saadiq

77. Love Lockdown - Kanye West

78. Run (I’m a Natural Disaster) - Gnarls Barkley

79. You Cheated Me - Martha Wainwright

80. Hero - Nas featuring Keri Hilson

81. Dance With Me - Old 97’s

82. Sweet And Low - Augustana

83. The Little Things - Colbie Caillat

84. The Fear - Lily Allen

85. Car Crash - Matt Nathanson

86. Chasing Pavements - Adele

87. Mr Rock & Roll - Amy MacDonald

88. New Soul - Yael Naïm

89. Pork And Beans - Weezer

90. My Medicine - Snoop Dogg

91. Nike Boots - Wale

92. Teenage Love Affair - Alicia Keys

93. Catch My Disease - Ben Lee

94. Broken - Tift Merritt

95. Old Enough - The Raconteurs featuring Ricky Skaggs & Ashley Monroe

96. Gives You Hell - The All-American Rejects

97. Ayyomyman - Tre Hardson featuring Fatlip

98. Beat It - Fall Out Boy featuring John Mayer

99. Seven Days of Lonely - I Nine

100. Stuck to You - Nikka Costa

Monday, December 29, 2008

The 9th Green’s Readers Favorite Songs of 2008


First off, congratulations are in order Emily and Niv who both picked up Amazon gift cards for sending in their top ten lists and thanks to everyone else who also contributed to the list (check your e-mail that you sent your lists from if you haven’t got it yet). After sending all the ballots sent in this year through my patent pending algorism that makes the Electoral College seem reasonable in comparison, here is what it came up with. If you do not like the results start get ready to send in a list for 2009.


1. Viva la Vida - Coldplay

2. Shut Up and Let Me Go - The Ting Tings

3. Electric Feel - MGMT

4. I Will Posses Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie

5. Heartless - Kanye West

6. Where I Stood - Missy Higgins

7. The Show - Lenka

8. Signs - Bloc Party

9. You Don’t Know Me - Ben Folds featuring Regina Spektor

10. Human - The Killers

11. Violent Hill - Coldplay

12. In This Life - Delta Goodram

13. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

14. If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 and Rihanna

15. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Beyoncé

16. Come on Get Higher - Matt Nathenson

17. Live Your Life - T.I. featuring Rihanna

18. Broken - Lifehouse

19. She’s a Lady - Forever the Sickest Kids

20. Paper Planes - M.I.A.

21. Shape Shifter - Keri Noble

22. The Resolution - Jack’s Mannequin

23. How I Could Just Kill a Man - Charolette Sometimes

24. Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon

25. My Medicine - Snoop Dogg

Sunday, December 28, 2008

25 Best Mash-Up's of 2008


There didn’t seem to be a bunch of great mash-ups this year, but still plenty to create a list so here are the best that I have found the last twelve months even if some were actually created before 2008. Here is where I usually give my disclaimer of actually ever having or even hearing these songs for legal reasons, but since the RIAA recently admitted lawsuits weren’t the best course of action when it came to illegal downloading and gave up the practice I guess I know longer have to do that. Granted since Blogger doesn’t have a music upload service you will still have to scour Google if you are interested downloading these songs. Of course there are some links on my sidebar to get you started on your search. If you want the unaltered album version of the songs, on the second line I will list the main songs that make up the mash-up (note some have more songs than I’ve listed):


1. M.I.A. Wanted Dead or Alive - DJ Schmolli
M.I.A. (Paper Planes) vs. Bon Jovi (Wanted Dead or Alive)

2. 50 Ways to Kill Your Lover - DJ Topcat
Slick Rick (Women Lose Weight) vs. Paul Simon (50 Ways to Leave Your Lover)

3. No Taylor, No Scar - Norwegian Recycling
The Fugees No Woman, No Cry vs. Jack JohnsonTaylor vs. Missy Higgins (Scar)

4. EasyWall - DJ Lobsterdust
The Commodores (Easy) vs. Oasis (Wonderwall)

5. Get that Rocky Mountain High - DJ Erb
Method Man & Redman (How High) vs. John Denver (Rocky Mountain High)

6. No One to Squeeze - DJ FOX
Alicia Keys (No One) vs. Red Hot Chili Peppers (Soul to Squeeze)

7. Rolling Confusion - Go Home Productions
The Temptations (Ball of Confusion) vs. Rolling Stones (multiple songs)

8. More than on Point - DJ Topcat
House of Pain (On Point) vs. Boston (More than a Feeling)

9. Can’t Tell My Wonderwall Nothing - Clinton Sparks
Kanye West (Can't Tell Me Nothing) vs. Oasis (Wonderwall)

10. If I Were a Free Fallin' Boy - DJ Earworm
Beyoncé (If I Were a Boy) vs. Tom Petty (Free Fallin')

11. Paper Rump - DJ Tripp
Wreckx-n-Effect (Rump Shaker) vs. M.I.A. (Paper Planes)

12. Jude’ll Fix It - Phil RetroSpector
The Beatles (multiple songs) vs. Coldplay (Fix You)

13. Brick My (Explative Deleted) - DJ Magnet
Mickey Avalon My (Explative Deleted)) vs. the Commodores (Brick House)

14. Wicked Wedding - DJ Schmolli
Billy Idol (White Wedding) vs. Chris Isaak (Wicked Game)

15. Duffy Train Running - DJ Y alias JY
Duffy (Mercy) vs. the Doobie Brothers (Long Train Runnin')

16. Jenny’s Superstitious - DJ Lobsterdust
Stevie Wonder (Superstition) vs. The Killers (Jenny Was a Friend of Mine)

17. Hate It Ain’t So - DJ Koochie
(50 Cent and the Game (Hate It or Love It) vs. Weezer (Say it Ain't So)

18. The Pink Jack - Wax Audio
AC/DC (The Jack) vs. David Lynch (The Pink Room)

19. Don’t Let it Be in Anger - DJ Y alias JY
Oasis (Don't look Back in Anger) vs. the Beatles (Let it Be)

20. Funny Bizniz - The Abrahammer
M.I.A. (Paper Planes) vs. Beastie Boys (Body Movin') vs. Nas (I Can)

21. Ghost Busta Rhymes - Ludachrist
Busta Rhymes (Dangerous) vs. Ray Parker Jr. (Ghostbusters)

22. Maggie’s 64 - locK3Down
Mike Jones (My 64) vs. Rage Against the Machine (Maggie's Farm)

23. Sad but Superstitious - Wax Audio
Stevie Wonder (Superstition) vs. Metallica (Sad but True)

24. Reckoner Lockdown - DJ Earworm
Kanye West (Love Lockdown) vs. Radiohead (Reckoner)

25. Looking Back Is a Losing Game - Phil Retrospector
Oasis (Don't look Back in Anger) vs. Amy Winehouse (Love Is a Losing Game)

Saturday, December 27, 2008

25 Best Live Performances of 2008


Last year I started a Best Performances of the year list mostly because of the overabundance of great performances at Live Earth. Despite the lack of any major cultural event, I thought I would continue the list for at one more year. Here the live performances that caught my ear this year. I have links to YouTube for those that have yet been pulled and there are even a couple that are sold on iTunes so check out the button for those.


1. Stronger/Hey Mama - Kanye West and Daft Punk (Grammy Awards)




2. Just Stand Up - Carrie Underwood, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Nicole Scherzinger , Natasha Bedingfield, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Keyshia Cole, Ashanti and Ciara (Stand Up 2 Cancer)



3. Burning Up/Ray of Light - The Stooges (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony)



4. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room - John Mayer (Where the Light Is)



5. Jungle Boogie/Umbrella/Don’t Stop the Music - The Time and Rihanna (Grammy Awards)

6. Learnin’ the Blues - Alicia Keys and Frank Sinatra (Grammy Awards)

7. Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (The Oscars)

8. Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood (Grammy Awards)

9. Always a Friend - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Alejandro Escovedo (Magic Highlights)

10. Children’s Story - Slick Rick (Hip Hop Honors)

11. The Pretender - Foo Fighters and the My Grammy Night Orchestra (Grammy Awards)

12. Let it Roll - B.B. King and John Mayer (Grammy Nomination Special)

13. Praying for Time - Carrie Underwood (Idol Gives Back)

14. No One - Alicia Keys and John Mayer (Grammy Awards)

15. Ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with Tom Morello (Magic Highlights)

16. Viva la Vida - Coldplay (MTV Movie Awards)

17. Love Lockdown - Kanye West (MTV Video Music Awards)

18. Just a Dream - Carrie Underwood (Country Music Award)

19. Free Fallin’ - John Mayer (Where the Light Is)

20. God Put a Smile on Your Face/Stop Me/Valerie - Mark Ronson, Adele, Daniel Merryweather, and Amy Winehouse (The Brit Awards)

21. Photograph - Taylor Swift and Def Leopard (CMT Crossroads)

22. Pink Houses - John Mellencamp (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony)

23. Love Bug - Jonas Brothers (MTV Video Music Awards)

24. You’re So Vain - Foo Fighters (Grammy Nomination Special)

25. Love Story - Taylor Swift (Country Music Award)