We’re just three new songs and one DJ…

…stealing Beastie Boys lyrics without delay.

KKCK:

Flo Rida “Right Round”
This song borrows a bit of Dead or Alive, and his style of rapping on the verses reminds me of some old pop/rock song I can’t think of.  All I can remember is that some store in Fargo used it in a jingle for something, or I saw it on a Fargo TV station growing up.  I’d enjoy the song a lot more if I could remember what old song that is.  I’m not even just saying that, because I am enjoying this way more than any other Flo Rida song I’ve ever heard.  With any luck, it might erase the spectre of “Low” from my memory.

New Kids on the Block “Dirty Dancing”
A band successful in the 80s doing a song that shares its name with an 80s movie, AND the song even rhymes “Patrick Swayze”?  That might just be crazy enough to work.  If you don’t know it’s NKOTB, you might not even recognize it as NKOTB.  I’ve never been a huge fan, but this one isn’t too bad.

My Chemical Romance “Desolation Row”
First, like Usher once did, these are my confessions.  I’ve never read “The Watchmen” so I have no idea what the movie will be like.  I’ve never heard the original version of this song by Bob Dylan.  It wasn’t on the “Essential Bob Dylan” CD I ripped into my iTunes.  So, I can only approach this as the three minutes of My Chemical Romance that I hear on my speakers.  Of those three minutes, I like them all.  I hope they don’t dilly dally too long before their next CD.

Pick to click: Flo Rida

Say, that was a pretty good week.  Dare I say it was our best week so far in 2009. 

No show as ever made me delirious with spoiler fever as Battlestar Galactica.  I had a spoiler window open, and I was ready to scroll down…but I just couldn’t do it.  I just want to know if my favorite character bit it.  It sure looks like the character did, and from the next week teaser at the end they even said the character was dead.  That’s why I’m holding hope actually.  Ron Moore never tips his hand like that, unless he has another plan up his sleeve for said character.  So, I’ll patiently wait for that character’s official fate (I’m trying so hard to not spoil anything for those who may be waiting for the season to finish before watching/buying/downloading).

After tonight there will only be two new episodes of Knight Rider, and then we wait for NBC to put a bullet in it.  I hope they don’t, as the show has shown some promise, and the producers seem willing to do whatever it takes to make the show work.  The show has gotten a lot better since the first episode, but it has a long way to go. 

Things at home are going really well.  Braeden is getting bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter by the day.  Kate’s knee is almost all the way back from her surgery.  Our cats continue both amuse and annoy, as cats are born to do.  We’re talking about where we might like to go for a long weekend once the weather warms up, but so far we don’t have any concrete plans.

Just since I started writing this week’s MySpace/WordPress/Last.Fm blog, Kate called to tell me Braeden was laughing.  We’ve been trying to get him to laugh for over a month, as he was at the age where he should start laughing.  What got him to laugh?  Mac the cat meowing at him.  If cats amuse him, he’s in for a fun filled life.

That wraps things up for this week.  Before I go, I was recently tagged by several people on Facebook to do one of those “25 Random Things About Me” deals, so I thought I’d cross post it for anyone who cares to read it but isn’t a Facebook friend.

1. I would still rather watch a well done cartoon than an above average live action show.

2. When I’m walking my son around to calm him down, I talk about baseball, philosophy, Battlestar Galactica, work, or whatever else is on my mind. Some days I swear he’s actually paying attention.

3. I think I drink way too much soda pop.

4. I might be addicted to the internet.

5. In college, I wanted to work anywhere but in Marshall. I’ve worked in Marshall over ten years, and I’ve really enjoyed it.

6. I bottle up feelings rather than talk about them. I am working on this.

7. When I think back to High School, I remember a lot of good times and quite a few things that make me wonder “what was I thinking?” (mainly my hairdo). I wouldn’t trade my time at VHS for anything though, and I’m really happy to see so many Veblen-ites (Veblonians? Vebleners?) popping up on Facebook.

8. On my iPod, I have almost 200 traditional Native American songs, over 500 Spooncat songs, every They Might Be Giants album, over eighty songs by Glenn Miller, most of my old hair rock, every 10,000 Maniacs, AC/DC, Metallica, ZZ Top, Fiona Apple, Bowling for Soup, Megadeth, Sheryl Crow, No Doubt, Dangerous Toys, Weird Al Yankovic, Daft Punk, and Reverend Horton Heat (those are just the ones I thought of now) album, and about 14,000 other songs. Of the 15,900 + songs, not one is in the genre “country”.

9. Some days I obsess about death, but not mine. I worry about my parents and my old cat, and I can’t stop thinking about how one day they won’t be here.

10. If I could go back to college, I’d major in Creative Writing and History.

11. I’m worried I’ve hit that age where I stop caring about playing video games. However, I still love to watch X-Play.

12. I like to think I’m a knowledgeable music fan. Yet, when other fans who I think knowledgeable gush about Radiohead, I feel I totally missed something. I just don’t hear the big deal. Same for TV on the Radio.

13. I still collect GI Joes and Transformers, but not as much as I used to.

14. In my bookmarks, I have almost 200 webcomics bookmarked and separated into tabs of “daily”, “M-W-F”, “sporadic”, “once a week” and “rarely”.

15. As a kid I refused to wear anything with a hood. Now I wear hooded sweatshirts almost every day.

16. I’ve had the same 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme since 1992. It looks like hell, but it still gets me where I need to go.

17. A great friend of mine tried to get me to socialize more because “I’d never meet the right girl in my apartment.” I met Kate for the first time…wait for it…in my old apartment.

18. The best sleep of my life was when I was working an overnight shift. No joke.

19. I really wanted to name our first son “Ichiro Ernest” but Kate didn’t like that idea for some reason.

20. In high school, my dream was to work at ESPN. During college I realized I just didn’t care enough about football, basketball or hockey (among other sports) to really make a go of it. Baseball is it for me.

21. I might be a borderline pack rat, but my mind really associates memories with objects, and I fear I’ll start forgetting things I don’t want to if I get rid of a few things I don’t need anymore.

22. Kate and I have only been out of the United States once, and that was to Canada. We liked it so much we half-joked about moving.

23. The only “bad” habits I picked up in college were comic books and AD&D (and other RPGs of that nature).

24. While I still collect some GI Joe and Transformers stuff, there are several things I used to collect that I no longer do. Some forgotten collections include baseball cards, matchbox police cars, Red Owl stuff, Super Soakers, and Star Trek stuff.

25. I would really like to be closer to my brother, but we’re 20 years and hundreds of miles apart. I don’t even know how to begin.

BONUS FIVE:

26. Lately I’d rather write than play video games or watch television.

27. My favorite book is There’s Adventure in Meteorologyby Neil P. Ruzic.

28. The first board game I learned to play was Monopoly, and the first card game I learned was draw poker.

29. I used to think I was good at poker, until the Texas Hold ‘Em craze. Whatever happened to draw poker?

30. I saved the best one for last. The night Kate and I got married, I had to go to the lobby for extra shampoo. For the first time, I uttered the phrase “my wife” and I realized I had been at my happiest since Kate and I were engaged, and being married has only made me even happier.

[oh, before I forget...Happy Birthday Alice Cooper!]

The iPod knows all?

I haven’t seen an iPod oracle survey in quite some time. The rules passed on to me are:

1.) Put your music player on shuffle
2.) Press forward for each question
3.) Use the song title as the answer
4.) NO CHEATING!!! What you get is what you get!

Okay, no cheating it is (unless I get a song about the Cheat).

1) How am I feeling today? “Looks that Kill” Motley Crue
2) Where will I get married? “If You Can’t Rock Me” Brian Setzer Orchestra (odd, since I am married)
3) What is my best friend’s theme song? “The Reflex” Duran Duran (which friend is this?)
4) What is/was high school like? “World Full of Hate” Dropkick Murphys (huh? I had a good time in High School)
5) What is the best thing about me? “Mole-Like” Puffy AmiYumi (again, whiskey tango foxtrot?)
6)How is today going to be? “The Gallon is God” The Distillers (do I need gas?)
7) What is in store for this weekend? “Devil Without a Cause” Kid Rock (I will take that for next weekend, as I have it off)
8 ) What song describes my parents? “Lay Lady Lay” Ministry (okay, my iPod has a virus or something)
9) How is my life going? “Just Like We Do (live)” Eisley
10) What song will they play at my funeral? “She’s a Lady” Tom Jones (okay, my iPod hates me or questions my sexuality)
11) How does the world see me? “You’re Crazy” Guns n’ Roses
12) What do my friends really think of me? “Poot Slap” a song from homestarrunner.com (the biggest WTF so far)
13) Do people secretly lust after me? “Kalifornia” Fatboy Slim
14) How can I make myself happy? “Poor De Chirico” 10,000 Maniacs
15) What should I do with my life? “42″ Coldplay
16) Will I ever have children? “Back for More” Ratt (odd, since I have one on the way)
17) What is some good advice? “Life and Death of the Party” Alice Cooper
18) What do I think my current theme song is? “Why Do They Make Balloons?” They Might Be Giants (not as bad as I thought)
19) What does everyone else think my current theme song is? “Greed” Faith No More
20) What type of men/women do you like? “5 Years” Bjork (there’s an answer that could get me a visit from Chris Hansen)
21) Will you get married? “Dare to be Stupid” Weird Al Yankovic (my wife will get a kick out of that)
22) What should I do with my love life? “The Kid Goes Wild” Babylon A.D.
24) Where will you live? “Finger on the Trigger” Enuff Z’Nuff (is Marshall that bad?)
25) What will your dying words be? “Nobody’s Real” Powerman 5000
26) How’s your day going so far? “Hey Baby” No Doubt
27) How’s your love life? “Float” the Music

All in all, my iPod doesn’t know what it’s talking about.

32 is the code word…or number

As in 3 new songs 2 weeks in a row.

KKCK:

Three 6 Mafia “Lolli Lolli (Pop that Body)”
No, it isn’t T-Pain in the song.  It’s also not quite the Halloween piano riff due to rights issues (unless you find the early leak of the song).  This would make two hip-hop hits in a year that reference the humble lollipop.  The energy of this song grabs your attention, and the flow, tempo and vocal style all work well within the song’s tight beats.  I’ve been giving our hip-hop adds some grief lately, but this one I like a lot.  I’d like it more if it worked in Smarties somehow.  Those things are where it’s at.

Theory of a Deadman “Bad Girlfriend”
Three albums in, the angry, bitter Nickelbackish band from Western Canada finally clocks into KKCK, and not even with a ballad.  Rather, they relay the tale of a girl who sounds like trouble with a big ol’ 72 point font bold-italic-underline “T” at every turn.  Yet, she sounds like just the kind of girl for a struggling band’s lead singer to hook up with, date for a time, and get burned on.  That propels the band down a path of rockin’ bitterness and the bad attitude boogie woogie.  Three albums later, the band is on the verge of major success in a new market.  So, thank you former bad girlfriend of Tyler Connoly of T.o.a.D.  fame.  You helped send the band down the path that led them to writing a song about you and getting a hit out of it.  That, and it’s the first song I can recall using the phrase “d— magnet”.

Matt Nathanson “Come on, Get Higher”
For some odd reason, people I work with think I know a ton about music.  I don’t think I know enough, and sometimes it really shows.  Case in point: Matt Nathanson.  I spent the first few times listening to him trying to figure out what band he was from.  No lie.  I thought he was some lead singer from some band I wasn’t remembering.  After a wiki check, I now see his band exists only in my head, where they had some moderate success early in the decade, opening for bands like Train.  Then, a second album didn’t deliver the goods and the band started fighting about the direction they should take.  The guitarist wanted to rock out and play Nickelcreed music.  The bass player’s cousin’s older brother managed some country singer who wanted a new bass player and song helper, so he wanted to go after those Nashville dollars.  The drummer wanted to add his other eight friends and turn the group into a Polyphonic Spree style band, or even a Polyphonic Spree tribute band.  Frustrated, Matt breaks up the band to focus on the folk rock on his own.  See, that was all in my head about this guy.  Wiki says he’s been a solo performer his whole career, going back to the mid-90s.  So, Matt, I’m sorry for breaking up your band that only existed in my head.  Oh, and the song?  It sounds like the dude from Train only folkier and mellower than any Train song I can think of.  Like, maybe if Train spent too much time on Jack Johnson’s tour bus.  That takes care of the higher part.  The come on part sounds like one of the better solo male performer songs that pop up and result in another outbreak of one-hit-wonder-itis.  Hopefully Matt got his shots.

Pick to click: Three 6 Mafia

Saturday I had the chance to see the new project from the Spooncat lads.  The Radio Specialists played outdoors and for a decent sized crowd in downtown Sioux Falls.  Due to an accident involving one of the members, some other Spooncaters popped up and a five-song Spooncat set worked into the set.  The Radio Specialists played some diverse music, that’s for sure.  Most of them I knew, but there were a few I have no basis of comparison (note to self, I need some Miles Davis).  The band added a harmonica player, a double axe attack, a cellist, and a new female singer who popped on stage from time to time.  The most interesting combo of the night was their take on “If I ever Lose My Faith” by Sting.  Jeremy and Anna-Lisa turned it into a duet, and the thought of doing it as a duet had never occurred to me.  It worked very well, and sounded great.  Another familiar song I didn’t expect to hear was “The End of the Innocence” by Don Henley (which they nailed).  Those were the highlights for me, but I don’t want to imply the rest of the show wasn’t memorable, because it was one of those shows where all the songs just flow in your ears, and it’s hard to remember songs because the flow was just that smooth.

This brings me to another thing.  I sometimes wonder if I go to concerts properly.  I’ve been to a few shows that cause me to get up and get crazy, but for the most part when I see a live band, I like to sit and take it in.  This might be why I’m just not into going to shows like I used to be.  I go to a live show for the audio experience, and everything else is just lost on me.  I don’t especially like standing in the middle of a crowd, nor to I like “clapping my hands” or “swaying” or “gettin’ crazy” or whatever else bands ask you to do.  I’d rather just sit back and take in how the music sounds as it was intended, rather than how it’s committed to a medium (which I also enjoy, but for other reasons).  I thought of this yesterday as I was listening to the new Alice Cooper album.  When I saw Alice several years ago, I was near the front and I was standing there just taking it all in.  Then, Alice came to that side of the stage and gave me an angry look, one that said “how dare you come to my show and not show emotion”.  Quite quickly I started acting excited and what have you, because offending Alice Cooper is about the last thing I’d want to do, as he’s been one of my favorite singers for over 20 years.  It isn’t like I wasn’t enjoying the show, far from it.  I just would rather enjoy without feeling the need to get all nutty and jumpy.  Does that make any sense?

By the way, the new Alice Cooper CD is pretty good.  It isn’t quite as good as his last album, but it’s a lot better than the few before Dirty Diamonds.  It pulls off the concept album trick without sounding too much like one.  As long as I’m talking about new albums, We the Kings put out a decent debut, but it doesn’t do much different than other bands of similar sound.  I’m thinking that if you’re buying We the Kings you aren’t looking for Kid A.  Scars on Broadway deliver a very solid debut, and it should leave those who miss System of a Down well tided over.  Also, I finally checked out the new CD from Sioux Falls’ Spill Canvas.  The album isn’t quite what I was expecting, as most of the songs struck me as a bit moodier and slower than “All Over You”.  I hadn’t noticed this on “All Over You”, but in the slower songs Nick Thomas sounds a lot like Matthew Good.

In not-new CD news, I picked up the They Might Be Giants CDs aimed at kids, since Kate and I’s bundle of joy will be here in a month or so.  I think I liked Here Come the ABCs slightly more than Here Come the 123s.  I need to find my old 40 GB iPod and load those up, along with loading up some classical albums I picked up really cheap at Kmart several years ago.  Any other good nursery song suggestions?