3 is the smoke and mirrors number

Seriously.  Penn & Teller told me so.

KKCK:

Rihanna “Rehab”
Rather than go the Winehouse route, Rihanna takes the concept of rehab and applies it in a different way.  While I normally hold out for Rihanna’s faster numbers, this one settles in and is likeable without being another “Disturbia”.

Incubus “Love Hurts”
Here again, a concept that worked for Nazareth is reworked by Incubus in a new way.  Sometimes it is a good hurt.  Too bad those are never as memorable as the ones where your heart is ripped out.  It isn’t a far cry from “Drive” as far as Incubus ballads go, so if you dig that you’ll dig this.

3 Doors Down “Let Me Be Myself”
Take out the electric guitars and tone down the music, this is a country hit.  I’m not sure why, but it sounds like a country song in rock’s clothing.  Maybe it’s just 3dd’s Southern roots coming through.

Pick to clickity clack: Rihanna (always a safe pick).

I had an idea for a long rant about fast food vs. a dietitian as a rambling metaphor for this year’s election.  In the end, I scrapped it because it only worked in my head as a concept.  When I started typing it out and thinking about how others might interpret it, I realized it really was one of those things that only made sense in my head.  So, I’ll spare everyone that jive.  Maybe I’ll was more political this weekend over at my occasionally leaning political spot to scrawl.

SPOILER ALERT for Knight Rider…there are strong indications that before the end of the year, K.A.R.R. returns!  Yes yes DOUBLE yes!  If I was to make a list of the top ten underused 80s villains, K.A.R.R. would probably be number one through seven.  I just hope the new Knight Rider crew doesn’t screw this up.  The show has been getting better every week, which is something I wasn’t expecting (especially after the first two episodes).

I wish I had some more time today, but the production room kicked my butt.  We’ll try again next week, or sooner.

3 songs gotta do what 3 songs gotta do

Stop!

KKCK:

T.I. w/Rihanna “Live Your Life”
Here’s a pairing of artists that works really nicely.  Sometimes, and I don’t know why this is, when two big name artists get together the result is less than stellar.  Or, like Rihanna with Maroon 5, the song is great but doesn’t connect.  This one shouldn’t have a problem becoming a huge hit for one of the biggest rappers right now, and the best thing to come out of Barbados since…well…um…(consults wikipedia)…Grandmaster Flash?  He’s from Barbados?  Really?  Wow.  I had no idea.

Taylor Swift “Love Story”
Yay…it’s that country singer who pop radio can’t leave alone.  Wheeeeee.  Ok, seriously.  We’ll stop trying to steal her away if you all, er, y’all give us Michelle Branch back.  I’ll give her this…at least this time her people knew there would be crossovers.  The hits from her first album sounded so horrible after remixing, we just played the regular twang-a-riffic versions.  This time the pop version sounds…poppy.  Not at all like somebody who’s played at the Grand Ol’ Opry.  Some people love her, but I just don’t get it.  I don’t know if I ever will.

Jon McLaughlin “Beating My Heart”
This track caught me off guard when I saw it on the list.  I wasn’t familiar with Jon, but the song is a nice daytime addition that doesn’t sound too bad at night.  We also were sent a copy of the full length, which is waiting for a listen.

Picker to clicker: T.I. w/Rihanna

I’m feeling better now.  My stomach was hardcore not cooperating today.  Granted, I was the healthiest in the house, so I did my best to let Kate rest and took care of a few things.  Everyone’s recovering now, so things should be back to normal tomorrow.

Justin/Dewey asked my thoughts on Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog.  I wasn’t sure I should mention it, since it has been out for a long time, but I can’t be the only person who held out watching it for some reason or another.  It is one of those things that while you’re watching it, you don’t really know why you’re watching it.  Then, after you’ve watched it, you think about it a lot.  Then you get the soundtrack for all those songs stuck in your head.  If you would like reasons to watch it (if you haven’t), I’ll say you should watch it if you like a few of the following things:

• Nathan Fillion
• Neal Patrick Harris
• Felicia Day
• super heroes
• super villains
• singing
• low budget extravaganzas
• crisp writing
• catchy songs
• Joss Whedon
• Joss Whedon singing with his brothers
• Nathan Fillion’s appropriately hammy singing
• Neal Patrick Harris’s shockingly good singing
• Felicia Days’s voice (somebody get her a record deal, STAT)
• Evil Leagues of Evil
• bad, bad horses

Seriously, I can’t get “A Man’s Gotta Do” or “Brand New Day” or “Bad Horse Chorus” out of my head.

A TV note I’m not used to passing on.  Two shows I watch…were picked up for full seasons.  Huh?  For once, am I watching shows that might not be cancelled before their time?  Granted, the shows are “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (proving Summer Glau can be on a show and it not be cancelled) and “Knight Rider” (Val Kilmer’s career…upswing or downswing with this show?).  The care and deft plot handling of “Terminator” is really starting to surprise me.  I hope the show lasts long enough for Shirley Manson to get in a few years as Catherine Weaver.  “Knight Rider” started out badly, but I stuck with it and it seems to be getting a better footing on how cheesy it should be (just enough to be fun, and not enough to be ridiculous).

I wonder how many people in any year of the 90s would have believed me if I’d predicted that Metallica, AC/DC and Guns n’ Roses would all releases new albums in 2008?  Heck, I’d go back to 1988 and tell people it wouldn’t happen again until 2008 (and Justice for All, G’n'R Lies, and Blow Up Your Video if you were wondering).  The new AC/DC is better on the second listen, but still not quite as good as I’d been reading.  I still like it, but I hope they can get their heads together one more time, because I think they still have one more great album in them.  I’m not trying to spread rumors or anything, but when Brian Johnson is talking about it being the last run, and he’s 61 (seriously, I had no idea someone in the band was over 60), I have to wonder.  The new Metallica is a nice step from St. Anger, and I think the next album will be the superior one.  Guns ‘n Roses?  The new single landed today, and the new album has a release date confirmed by G’n'R management.  I’m curious as to how the Guns n’ Roses album will play out.  It has been delayed and hyped for so long, how could it not be a let down?  At the same time, this is something Axl worked on for almost a decade, and he’s done some good work in the past.  Either way, I need a new longest running story for my KKCK music newscasts.  This one ran for eight years, each story with a “stay tuned”.  A month from now, the story ends.  What’s next?  Maybe that long delayed new Dr. Dre album?  Are there any other stories that could even touch Chinese Democracy?

I don’t know what Braeden is mad about, but boy, is he mad.  I’d better look into that.

Three songs, and a Bears quip

Today I transition from Walter Payton to Neal Anderson.  Wheeeeeeeee.

KKCK:

Beyonce “If I Were a Boy”
In yesterday’s music news post, I linked to a Rolling Stone article about the new Beyonce Album.  Long story short, it’s a double disc with one CD of Beyonce songs, that are like this one.  Nice, slow, and radio friendly.  Then there’s disc two, which deals with her more “Ring the Alarm” alter ego, who she calls “Sasha Fierce”.  Part of me is intrigued by this concept, part of me is worried about her general sanity, and part of me is also wondering if “Sasha Fierce” is really the best thing she could have come up with.  Plus, all those years of “Bootylicious”, “Ring the Alarm”, and “Crazy in Love” were now maybe not Beyonce, and were in fact Sasha.  Maybe I’m looking into this a bit much.  As far as the new song, I’d have liked more Sasha and less Beyonce.

David Cook “Light On”
Those of you who have a good knowledge of hard rock/metal circa 1986-1993, help me out.  David sounds like the lead singer of a mostly forgotten band on this track, and I can’t think of which one.  Maybe a cross between House of Lords and Tangier?  Either way, I’m sure it will do pretty well.  I just hope he can rock it up a bit more than this in the future.  What is it about American Idol that bland-i-fies everybody who wins?

T-Pain & Lil’ Wayne “Can’t Believe It”
I wish they’d just do their “T-Wayne” album and get it over with.  I’m not a big fan of either, so the combination doesn’t do much for me.  Sometimes when two big stars work together, the result isn’t much of a hit.  This will not be the case, as anything these two do together is chart gold.  Yet, I’m still not getting what the big deal with Lil’ Wayne is.  I can barely understand him in this song, and in parts I have no idea what he’s saying.

Pjork to cjork: T-Wayne

There’s a lot I want to type about, but I have little to no time to do it.  Maybe I’ll do something this weekend and cross post it here and here.  If I have time to recommend three albums to check out, it’s all about the ladies.

Leona Naess-Thirteens: it might be her best album yet, and it’s also oddly her happiest (considering she lost her major label deal and her dad while recording it)
Rachael Yamagata-Elephants…Teeth Sinking into Heart: Elephants has everything that you loved about Happenstance, while Teeth Sinking Into Heart shows a side of Rachael that “Letter Read” hinted at.
Ani DiFranco-Red Letter Year: It might be one of her best yet.  No foolin’.

some songs, emotions, tori and OMG NEW NICKELBACK!!!

I’ll admit, it is a shameless title to get more readers.

KKCK:

Nickelback “Gotta Be Somebody”
Robert John “Mutt” Lange’s hand-prints are all over this like they used to be all over Shania Twain’s music and everything else.  It has that Mutt sound, but over the years he’s really moved towards what almost sounds like a drum machine back-beat.  Look, this is one of the biggest rock bands right now being produced by one of the biggest rock hitmakers of all time.  It doesn’t matter what I say, so avocado drum masher flib-flib nookie-nigh hey-ha glorp blorp whoop whoop nee-yaa stapler shuffle cookie biscuit Wisconsin baseball eggshell satin burrito junior deodorant kittykat noosh glib-glarb gnip-gnop bandu teriyaki fatality.

Ne-Yo “Miss Independent”
What ever happened to Miss Independent?  It looks like Ne-Yo found her, and he’s diggin’ her scene.  I’m liking the beat in this track, and the subject matter is a refreshing change from all the “shawty shake it” hip-hop that seems to be the ruling class.  I like to be pleasently surprised, so I really like this one (no thanks to one of my co-workers hyping it up like crazy…that just made me doubt it was a good song, but a point to him).

Lady Ga Ga with Colby O’Donis “Just Dance”
She’s been getting a decent amount of publicity and buzz, and this song tells me it isn’t all wasted.  The beat drives it forward, and her voice is strong and authoritative without being too much of either.  Colby O’Donis is a nice touch, but he is in no way the star of this track.  Heck, he wasn’t even the star of his own track, as most calls were for “What You Got” by Akon, or even one caller requesting it by saying it was by “Akon and that other guy who doesn’t matter”.  Ouch.

The Killers “Human”
After flirting with a more rock sound on Sam’s Town, The Killers go back to the new-wave redux that made them stars in the first place.  Or, as I like to say, they went back to writing the best Duran Duran songs.  I don’t know if I can pinpoint a thing about this song that makes me like it, but I know when the Killers are on their game, I find them enjoyable at anytime.  The question of “are we human/or are we dancers/dancing?” I don’t quite get, but I still don’t know or care who Mr. Brightside was/is.

Plork to clork:Nickelback and Mutt Lange…taking over the radio for the next 16 months.  Just ask any country fan about how much life a Shania album had.

Over the last week, I’ve been reintroducing myself to Tori Amos, including listening to Under the Pink and Boys for Pele for the first time, and listening to Scarlet’s Walk, Strange Little Girls, Little Earthquakes, To Venus and Back, and From the Choirgirl Hotel for the first time in years.  The first Tori CD I bought was From the Choirgirl Hotelwhen it first came out, and I’ve been buying her stuff since then, even though I wasn’t listening to any of them a lot.  I kept thinking something just wasn’t clicking with me, but it would someday.  It would seem something did click recently, as I have been enjoying discovering and rediscovering her material.  The Beekeeper nudged me a bit, and American Doll Posse also nudged me along, but until the last few weeks the urge to listen to her stuff wasn’t there.  Why it kicked in so hard in the last few weeks I’ll never know.  Could it have been because of my recent status change to “parent”?  The other Tori fans I know aren’t parents, so I doubt that’s it.  Any Tori fans out there can venture a theory, as I have no idea.

BTW, “Gold Dust” from Scarlet’s Walk seriously gives me chills every time I hear it.  I can think of fewer songs that can change my mood as radically as that one.

On the recommendation of alntv, I nabbed myself a copy of the new Kings of Leon record.  I’d heard few songs by KoL that I could stand before, but I was willing to give them a chance, since he said it might be his album of the year.  It sounds a lot better than anything else I’ve ever heard by them by leaps and bounds, but I want Vampire Weekend to relax, since that’s still my favorite of 2008 so far.  In the next few weeks, I have high hopes for new Leona Naess (I’m a bit slow getting that one), Rachel Yamagata, AC/DC, and dare I say Guns n’ Roses?   I dare, because I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who thinks it might have a chance of coming out.  If Fiona Apple can get Extraordinary Machineout, Axl can finally get this out.

Other than music, things are going very well in the life and times of me.  Every day with Braeden is a learning experience in some way, and Kate’s evolution to a super-mom was almost instantaneous.  She’s always thinking of him and she’s always happy to talk about him.  I’ve never seen her happier in the years that I’ve known her, and seeing her that happy only makes me happy as well. 

That being said, I’ve also had several bouts of near-crippling sadness of late.  My step-father’s health isn’t improving as much as anyone would like, and it’s taking a toll on my mom.  I know how much she’s already suffered, raising me and dealing with losing her husband and parents within a four year span, along with an ill-fated move to New Mexico and some disagreements with my brother mixed in after that.  My step-dad has been thinking a lot about death for years (to hear my mom, over a decade) and that’s starting to rub off on her.  The prospect of losing them soon, along with the reminder of my own mortality that their health gives me, tends to render me sullen, melancholy and ready to cry at the drop of a hat.  Kate thinks I should see someone about it, but I don’t think I’m ready for that just yet.  Maybe, like being a fan of Tori Amos, I’m waiting for something to click. 

Warp 11 isn’t helping in the long term, but in the short term it does.  I’m going to go torture my eardrums with “Sto Vo Kor” and “Everything I Do (I Do with William Shatner)”.

Four songs on a deadline that was hours ago

Since these songs were added while I was still away, I’m not super familiar with them.  Let’s see how that works.

Jonas Brothers “Lovebug”
Is this the one they did at the VMAs?  If so, good enough.  They’re almost in “do no wrong” territory.

Britney Spears “Womanizer”
It has a nice groove, but I’m not sold on the vocals or the lyrics.  Xtina’s new song has it in spades over this one.  Remember when a Britney vs. Xtina match was a lot closer?

Hinder “Without You”
Man, why remake a good Motley Crue song.  Wait, it’s not a remake…just a new Hinder song.  Somebody tell this band that if they want to totally copy the Nickelcreed formula they need the ballad single before the fast song single.

Akon “Right Now (Na Na Na)”
As far as Akon songs go, it isn’t anything special, nor is it super annoying like “Lonely”.  Akon needs to stop putting that stupid “KONVICT” drop in all of his song intros.  It’s both lame and has been debunked by thesmokinggun.com.

Pick to click: Jonas Brothers

B.A. turned a week old last night.  That was weird.  I thought throughout the pregnancy time was moving at a normal pace, and now it feels like somebody hit the fast forward button.  I’m trying to enjoy the moment, but I keep looking forward to him laughing, talking and learning.  At the same time, I want to hold him and baby him for a long time.  So far fatherhood is a weird mental trip, but it is one I’m happy to be on.

I’m still trying to get back in the old routine, so this week’s blog is a bit short.  We’ll try to get a longer one in next week.