To Blog/Twitter, or Not

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Originally uploaded by adamchose

I had a thought to twitter or blog the upcoming labor/birth of our second daughter. I'm not sure if it is feasible or not, or interesting. It might be an easy way to keep family informed of what is going, and it might also be cool - it would make her a very "web 2.0" baby. I am open to thoughts on the issue...

That's Josephine of course, such a sweetheart at less than one day old even!

TOP 10 - THIS IS THE END

The Final Installment: Top 10 Is Complete! It is now safe for me to fly and end up stranded on a tropical island with a CD player and unlimited batteries forever.

Roxy Music - If There is Something - Viva! Live Roxy Music

First of all, this Roxy Music live album should be the only live album they ever released, because it rules, and their other ones, well, I think they leave something to be desired. There is an every and crispness to these performances that I don't hear on later live albums. It's sort of amazing, they never really had a full time bass player. Between live preformaces and studio sessions, they had more than 10 different bass players play with them (maybe you don't think that's amazing, but bass players are much more important than a lot of people realize).

I think that Bryan Ferry is one of those guys who is polarizing to a lot of music fans - you either really like him or you really do not like him. There is a certain pretentiousness about him that can be off-putting - he doesn't seem like the kind of guy you would want to sit down and have a beer with. (Isn't it amazing the traits that we assign to rock stars, I mean, I don't know the guy, but I am willing to state publicly that I would not have a beer with him. Talk about judging a book by its cover!) But he has a cool voice, a good look, he is very sure of himselg, and he likes what he is doing. When he let's it fly at the end of this one, it's sweeping and glorious, and he takes you with him - right back - when you were young.

Phil Manzanera had a great look in the 70's, with long hair and outrageous outfits. He was more than serviceable on guitar as well, although Ferry wrote almost all of their music. Basically, you look at him and say, "well, let me guess. This is where British art-rock came from right?"

This song in particular shows a lot of what makes Roxy Music so great, and powerful live performers in the 70's. Nice long solos help build from a simple beginning. By the time the guitar solo and violin solos come, it's a completely different song. Then, in the final section. Ferry really lets us have it. What a joy.

The posted video here is from The Old Grey Whistle Test, which is must viewing for anyone who likes 70's and 80's live performaces. Just look at him in this video - Ferry's look is no less than 10 years ahead of its time. And is that Brain Eno on keys? Oh my.



I also have to mention that they were #98 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest bands ever. I am sorry, but that is just plain wrong. It makes me crazy to think about it.

Last, and not least...

U2 - Walk On - from America: A Tribute to Heroes

There was no way U2 was not going to make this list. I consider them the best band of all time. We can argue about it forever if you want, but that's how I think of them. They have produced 3 of the 10 albums of all-time: The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby! and All That You Can't Leave Behind. That's remarkable, to have created truly seminal albums THREE TIMES in their career. And my absolute favorite show I have ever seen in person was not Phish, but U2, at Target Center in 2001. We were behind the stage, and paid $55 per ticket, but they made it worth every single penny. For three hours I was in almost total and complete ecstasy. They know how to give a live performace.

There's a lot of good stuff on the Tribute to Heroes discs. Mariah Carey singing America the Beautiful with Willie Nelson still gives poor Willie nightmares I am sure. Neil Young's Imagine performance was also amazing. But the best performance of all was U2, in a studio by themselves, singing their signature single of that time, Walk On. (They were closing most shows with it at the time, with PEACE written in many different languages spinning around the arena. U2 walks the line between awesome and lame, emotional and cheese, more than any other band I know. They often cross over it, but most of the time they are right on it, and the results are beautiful).

From the beginning softly spoken words "I'm sick of hearing/ again and again/ that there's never gonna be/ peace on earth", and his "Goodnight from London" (always reminds me that there was no flying still at the end of that week), you know they are not going to mail in this performace. And while they stay under control the whole time, I think you can see some strain on their faces, even these guys (Edge is possibly the coolest individual of all-time). There are so many lines that get me in this one, like, "we're packing a suitcase for a place/ none of us has been/ a place that has to be believed/ to be seen". Then in the end his promise: "See you when I get home!" Well, it sends the softer ones among us to the brink of emotional release. Even to this day. It's an amazing performace, and it's connection to 9/11 makes it that much more poignant, without taking emotional advantage. A few months later, they performed at halftime of the Super Bowl, another incredible scene. That might be the best Super Bowl halftime ever (although if you put a gun to my head, I would probably say Prince in 2007 was the best ever, I mean, he was able to make it rain in Miami for the love og God. Who else could do that?)



That's it! The List is complete! Here is the final tally:

1. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks


2. Bad Religion - Skyscraper


3. The Velvet Underground - Heroin


4. Phish - Harry Hood (live)


5. Felix Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in e minor


6. Coldplay - The Hardest Part


7. Neil Young w/ The Band - Helpless (live)


8. Dave Matthews Band - Seek Up (live)


9. Roxy Music - If There is Something (live)


10. U2 - Walk On - (live)

Four songs that start with H. 5 songs that feature a violin/viola at some point. 5 LIVE recordings. I didn't set out to make that happen, it just did, but I guess it is not THAT surprising. I might have to publish the list of songs that came close but fell short. And I'll burn mp3 discs for anyone who wants one!

Top 10 Continued

Now that I have caught my breath after the Super Bowl, it's time to get back to the top 10. Jonathan's is all wrapped up, so if we want to get together to have beers and listen, I better get mine done too. Without further ado, and also without any of the cool videos that Jonathan uses, here's more from my Top 10 list:

Neil Young - Helpless

I would have a hard time accepting any list of this kind that did not include at least one Neil Young track. Arguably the greatest singer/songwriter of the past 50 years (don't get excited Bob Dylan fans, I said arguably), I could have filled an entire Top 10 list with his songs alone. What is it about Neil that is so awesome?

1. Lyrics - I do not consider lyrics, especially most rock lyrics, to have much weight. Too often the rhymes are so forced, and the imagery so childish, that it is more fun to make up my own lyrics. Not so with Neil. Here's the opening from Helpless:

There is a town in north Ontario,With dream comfort memory to spare,And in my mind I still need a place to go,All my changes were there

That's good stuff. The lyrics of this song in particular make you think while you enjoy them, which adds to the awesomeness of this song.

2. Music and Voice
He can do beautiful, poignant, angry, rockin, folky - whatever you want. He can absolutely do it all - you cannot put him in a box. And the quality is always top notch, too. He can make noise too (Sleeps with Angels is an often overlooked album, or it is only considered as part of the Kurt Cobain saga). This particular recording, on my top 10 list, is from The Last Waltz concert, with The Band. It starts out acoustic, mellow. His haunting voice (no other word describes it so well, I think) let's the audience know what's coming, and then... By the end, they are absolutely ROCKING on this song, and I can hardly stop myself from screaming it along with them. Talk about having a good time - you can see it. An excellent performance.

3. Attitude/Mystique
My favorite story is from the MTV Unplugged sessions, when he got up and walked out during rehearsals because the band they brought in was not ready. They came back a couple of months later and did it right. Not many rock artists out there would have the guts to maintain that kind of a standard. Another one was one of the guys in Crazy Horse saying that they basically had to operate knowing that any day Neil might show up and say, "that's in, I'm leaving for awhile", and there was nothing they could do about it but accept it. That's the kind of crazy I want in my rock stars! I really think that for Neil it is not about himself, but about the music, which sounds really silly of course, except that for him it is true, so you have to love it.

Last note - this recording features Joni Mitchell singing in the background - they hid her behind a curtain so that the audience wouldn't know she had her own set coming up. And it was very hard for me to cut Coyote from this list, but Neil hits an absolute home run here.

Dave Matthews Band - Seek Up - Live at Red Rocks
Here's another violin song, and believe me, I would LOVE to play along sometime. If you have ever been to Red Rocks, you can imagine what this set opener must have been like - you're about ready to pop waiting for the show to start and then they come out with 15 minutes like this - I am surprised anyone had any energy left be the end.

This one has all of the things that I liked about Dave, and none of the things I don't like. I like his voice, the rhythm section, and the solos in the long jams. I don't like pretentious Dave, Dave that talks too much telling stories, and Dave talking about girls. That's annoying Dave, and it's covered up nicely here. They do a good job of making you wait, not giving away the jam too soon. And the end section with him wailing and the violin freaking out in the background sounds like a lot of fun. Excellent stuff. This song is a fantastic way to spend 15 minutes!

Here's a summary of what I have so far:

1. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
2. Bad Religion - Skyscraper
3. The Velvet Underground - Heroin
4. Phish - Harry Hood (live)
5. Felix Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in e minor
6. Coldplay - The Hardest Part
7. Neil Young w/ The Band - Helpless (live)
8. Dave Matthews Band - Seek Up (live)

Two more entries left, and I am very excited about them. Classics, both of them. One you've heard and one you haven't! (Unless you have been over to my house recently, then you would have heard both of them.)

The Casual Fan's Guide to Watching the Super Bowl (and I don't mean just the commercials)

With the big game coming up on Sunday, I thought it would be a good idea to write a little primer for the game so that those who do not watch football every Sunday can have an idea what is going on during the game. I always thought this would be a great idea for some female oriented talk show (The View, Oprah. Rachel Ray): They should have a segment where a guy comes on who is funny and will give the audience a basic run down of what is going to happen in the game, which would probably make the game more interesting for those people watching only because the "have to". Because there really is something going on more than just new commercials (which have gotten increasingly lame over the past few years, I mean, really, can you name one truly memorable Super Bowl ad in the past few years?) The players and coaches involved in this game has decdicated the better part of their lives for the chance to be a part of this game, and I think that what they do should not be a secondary consideration to advertising.

 

So here are some quick hit thoughts on each team that will make the game more interesting while you watch:

 

Pittsburgh Steelers, they'll be wearing white jerseys with black helmets on Sunday:

The franchise has won 5 Super Bowls already - won Super Bowl XL 3 years ago - their coach is Mike Tomlin, and he will be the youngest ever to head coach a team in the Super Bowl (36) - their DEFENSE is what they are known for - their QB is young, and played very poorly in the Super Bowl three years ago - their best Wide Receiver (Hines Ward) is hurt, and we don't really know how much he will be able to contribute on Sunday - they are favored to win by 7 points, which is a pretty big margin, but not immense

 

Arizona Cardinals, they'll have red jerseys on with white helmets:

The franchise has never been to the Super Bowl, and are usually considered to be among the worst franchises in professional sports - their Quarterback is Kurt Warner, who is one of the truly inspiration stories in all of sports - #11 Larry Fitzgerald is really an amazing wide receiver, be sure to watch whenever he gets the ball - they had a miserable ending of the season, and no one believed they would win even one playoff game (they have now won 3) - if you had bet $100 on them to win the Super Bowl before the season started, a win for them on Sunday would mean you would be collecting $4500 (now you know why people gamble) - most people do not think they can win, and that this might actually be a blowout

 

There are two sets of conventional wisdom regarding how the game will go - one for how the Steelers will win and one for how the Cardinals will win. They go like this:

 

STEELERS WIN

The Cardinals cannot make hardly ANY yards at all on offense for their first 3 or four drives. Meanwhile, the Steelers are running the ball ok, and they have a trick play that works, and it is something like 13-0 Steelers and the Cardinals still have not done anything on offense. Maybe Kurt Warner has turned it over once or twice as well. The Cardinals are in big trouble if the game play follows this kind of scenario.

 

CARDINALS WIN

The Steelers turn the ball over early, and the Cardinals capitalize. They are moving the ball well, running it some and passing it more. Kurt Warner has lots of time to throw, and Larry Fitzgerald is already making his mark on the game. The Steelers start to press, Hines Ward looks like a guy with a bad knee, and have another turnover. The Cardinals are keeping it close, and need just one or two big plays (maybe in special teams where the Steelers have had problems) to take the lead.

 

Usually the two sets of conventional wisdom both turn out to be wrong. That's where the promise in sports lies really - ANYTHING can happen, and often does. I'll give you ONE thing to look for as you are watching that will tell you if the Cardinals have a shot to win: Watch their QB Warner when they have the ball. When he goes back to pass, watch to see if he has 3 or more seconds to stand there and throw. If he has time to throw, the Cardinals have a chance. On the other hand, if Warner drops back and is getting pounded by 300 pound guys before he can look down the field, the Cardinals will be in for a long evening.

 

Remember, there's more to this game than the spectacle, there's a game going on, and sometimes it's even a really good game. If you have a couple of things to look for, it can make the game more interesting for you.

The Hold Steady

Anyone following my twitter feed lately can see that there is an obsession building within me. See, when I find something I really like, I will absolutely wear it out. For some reason, certain albums just get inside me, and there is nothing I can do to prevent myself from listening to that album and only that album. I am not there yet with The Hold Steady's Stay Positive release - and at the time of this writing, I don't expect it to reach the same status as Death Cab for Cutie's Plans, or Coldplay's X&Y, or The Last Waltz, or any number of Phish albums, or the movie Flash Gordon (I was in 5th grade then, but watched it almost every day). But still, it is currently receiving my full attention. I think it should receive yours as well.

Voice-- Well, he obviously knows how to sing. It makes me think of the first time I heard Pearl Jam, I was actually watching the Evenflow video, and how could you not sit there and say to yourself, "wow, the man can sing, he has a distinctive voice, he enjoys the song, and oh, did I mention he has a distinctive voice?" I think this guys has a voice that is easy to listen to, and is made to ROCK.

ROCK. Here is the heart of my enjoyment of these guys. This is rock music. It makes me feel like I am at a big rockin party, and this is the band that is playing on one end of the room. They aren't necessarily dominating the room, BUT everyone who is over listening to them is having and AWESOME time. And the rest of the people in the room are thinking about going over to listen to them.

NO SHAME. There's a guitar solo in "Lord, I'm Discouraged" that is just over the top. And you can tell that the band is absolutely loving it, and probably told him to go more over the top while he was playing it. In straight ROCK music, over the top is what everyone wants, so there is no shame in giving it to people. In ROCK, like Gordon Gekko says in Wall Street, over the top "is good". It makes ROCK better, and it is what drives rock music, because it is that over the topness that makes rockers write the way they write.

IT'S FUN. Sometimes, we listen to music because we want to have a good time, and these guys deliver it. Even their sad songs just make you want to drink more. After just a couple of times through the album, I felt like I could see this band "Staying Positive" at a really awesome party.

So I have been staying positive at the party at work all week this week, and I think you might like to get a little piece of that too.

Uh Oh

I did it. You can find me on facebook now. I am STILL considering this research for work...

Top 10 Continued

Pure. Piano. Pop.

If I am going away to island forever, I am going to need something I can sing to. Since I may have been seen driving down the road singing this one as loud as I could, it seems like a good choice.

Coldplay - The Hardest Part - X & Y

This one just soars, and I love Chris Martin 's voice. I love it so much, that many times, when I am listening to this one, I try to pretend I have the same voice he has. Thankfully I am generally alone when this occurs. One thing I like about this one is that there is absolutely no doubt that Martin loves this song. And I personally think it takes some amount of guts to say, ok, I am doing at least half this song in falsetto. And I can practice my air drumming while I sing this one. It's such a simple song, and I find that to be a fascinating part of many of the songs on this list. So simple, yet so magnificent. Also, I will be able to spend all my time on the island thinking about what The Hardest Part of living on the island is.