Holiday Themed Top Five Number Two

This is the second holiday themed top five, because Christmas day is usually a holiday that supports the birth of Jesus. I made a top five list of songs that in someway mention Jesus, or are about him.

1. His Eye Is On The Sparrow - Marvin Gaye

2. Touch The Hem Of His Garment - Sam Cooke

3. Jesus Gave Me Water - The Soul Stirrers

4. Jesus - The Velvet Underground

5. Jesus Christ - Big Star

Holiday Themed Top Five Number One

Here is the first of two holiday themed top fives. Top five songs about Christmas.

1. Back Door Santa - Clarence Carter

2. Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon

3. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love

4. Marry Christmas Baby - There are two really good versions so I posted Both - Ray Charles - Otis Redding

5. Christmas In Hollis - Run DMC

What, My List Is Over And It's Not Christmas Yet You Say?

Alright, so I'm doing a late night post. It's kind of in between days so it's like I'm getting two birds with one stone. I don't have a lot to say for this post.

I just want to point out that my list is over and it's not Christmas yet, and that I knew that would happen early on in the list. I might be a CreComm, but I'm not that bad at math. I was only off by a couple of days in my calculation of by how many days I'd be off. So I figure that's pretty decent. For anyone who is not in CreComm, Creative Communications, there is an on going joke in the program that none of us are good a math. Yeah, I know.

Okay, so anyway. I'm gonna do two more top fives one on Christmas Eve and one on Christmas. They will be holiday themed lists.

Getting to the last thing I wanted to have in this post. This old china plate I know from England named Ed recently made a mix CD and asked me to post it on my blog. So there you go. As far as plates go Ed has very good taste in music and has, in the past, made some well put-together mixes. So check it out.

Here's the playlist. It's a direct copy of what he sent me.

1. Sidra's Theme - Ronnie & Robyn
2. The Mexican - Babe Ruth
3. Early Morning - Fontan
4. Time Marches On - Foetus
5. Girls It Ain't Easy - Honey Cone
6. Hung My Head - Johnny Cash
7. Clones (We're All) - Alice Cooper
8. Too Late - Larry Williams & Johnny Watson
9. The Lady Came From Baltimore - Scott Walker
10. Classical Gas - Mason Williams
11. Dead Funny - Archie Bronson Outfit
12. So Sad About Us - The Who
13. You Look Great When I'm Fucked Up - Brian Jonestown Massacre
14. Palaces Of Montezuma - Grinderman
15. This Magic Moment - Loud Reed
16. Monk Time - The Monks
17. Eve Of Destruction - Barry McGuire

...and the incidental music? you'll have to guess.

I don't know what he means by guessing. Maybe it's something he's recorded.

And, because I didn't fit it into any top fives.

The Twelve Top Fives Of Christmas #12 Top Five Songs With A Girl's Name In The Title

Today, Day twelve in the twelve top fives of Christmas, I decided to make the top five list the top five songs with a girl's name in the title. I hope that’s not a let down for anyone. Maybe, some one had their hopes up for some super special top five and all this got was this one. Well I’m sorry; this was really all I could think of this morning. Anyway, here’s the list.

1. Dear Prudence – The Beatles
2. Gloria – Them
3. Mini Skirt Mini – Wilson Picket
4. Visions Of Johanna – Bob Dylan
5. Christine’s Tune (Devil In Disguise) – The Flying Burrito Brothers (Gram Parsons)

I picked these really quickly, because I’m always running out of time. I have to go somewhere soon so I can’t just sit around and blog all day, which I have done in the past while working on this list of top fives. Anyway, I picked them based on badassness and goodness.

1. Dear Prudence: This is my favorite song, that’s how it got to the top of the list. Self-indulgent? Maybe a little.

2. Gloria: this song rocks so hard. I don’t know if I need to say more.

3. Mini Skirt Mini: This song also rocks so hard. It was really a toss up between it and Gloria. I couldn’t decide I put Gloria first because I like that name better.

4. Visions of Johanna: I don’t really know how to describe this one, it’s kind of long but it’s just really well written. It’s a really, really good song.

5. Christine’s Tune: this song is great the guitar sound in it is fantastic. I like it a lot.

The Twelve Top Fives Of Christmas #11 Top Five Songs Of A Political Nature

Day eleven. I was thinking about what I should do for today’s list, and last night I decided to make it the top five songs of a political nature. So I thought about it for a bit and this is what I came up with.

1. A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke
2. Revolution – The Beatles
3. Only A Pawn In Their Game – Bob Dylan I couldn't Decide Between This and With God On Our Side
4. For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield This video is kinda cool, but for the full song.
5. Student Demonstration Time – The Beach Boys

This list might have been a little bit rushed, so I don’t know if it’s the best possible one I could have come up with but I think it’s satisfactory. Maybe I should have had Monk Time on it. That’s political right? Oh and maybe I should have put What's going on? or Mercy Mercy Me on too. Oh well.

And I know Brian Wilson wasn’t a huge fan of Student Demonstration Time and I think I’m correct in saying he didn’t even want it on the album, but I like it. Oh yeah, I think I heard Brain Wilson was coming to town. Just saying.

The Twelve Top Fives Of Christmas #10 Top Five Female Vocalists

Alright, so it’s day number ten. I was kind undecided on what to do for today’s top five. I have a few ideas, but I just kept bouncing them around in my head unsure of which to use. I ended up deciding that I should do a top five of female singers since I said I would after the list of male singers. So here’s the list of top five best female vocalists, based on how good I think they are.

1. Aretha Franklin
2. Gladys Knight The sound gets a little weird at the end the that video. It's still good though. I posted this second one mainly because of this guy dancing behind the stage in a blue leisure suit. It's amazing.
3. Martha Reeves
4. Diana Ross
5. Barbara Lynn

That was actually a really tough list to compile. In the end I Had a pretty hard time choosing who should be on the list and who left off, but anyway that’s what I ended up with. Okay, I also just wanted to add Betty Davis, she couldn’t really make the list as far as singers go just based on what I was looking for in my list, but she’s super badass.



In Hindsight I probably should have put her on top front men, on day five. Oh well. Anyway, I’ll have list number eleven tomorrow.

Also, I just thought of this while I was adding the links. For Aretha I used her version of Respect, which is a reply to Otis Redding's Respect which was on his album Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul. I had known about Aretha's version for years and had first heard it as a young kid. I had kinda of written it off for some reason. Then much later in life I came across Otis's. Once I found his version I was like oh man this is way better than the Aretha version. Sometime after that I heard Aretha's again, and then realized that it's better. It's close, but Aretha's gets the nod, simply because of how badass she comes off in the delivery of her retort. Otis's version is badass. It's just that whenever I listen to Aretha's version I imagine that she was sitting at home one day and Otis's Respect came on the radio. I just imagine her face kinda tightening up and her saying, "Oh no he didn't" then going down to the studio and laying down her version of the track.

The Twelve Top Fives Of Christmas #9 Top Five Songs About A Train

Well, it looks like I’m posting top five number nine a little bit later than usual. That’s mainly because I slept in and then went out and watched a movie, but it’s still day number nine. So I might be later than usual, but I’m still not quite late. You know what else usually isn’t late: trains. That’s why today’s list is the top five songs about a train.

1. All Down The Line – The Rolling Stones
2. It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes a Train To Cry – Bob Dylan
3. One After 909 – The Beatles
4. 5:15 – The Who
5. Let It Rock – Chuck Berry

I also decided to list a few of the runners up since there ended up being a couple. These are in no particular order.

• Down Bound Train – Chuck Berry
• Mystery Train – Elvis Presley
• Love In Vain – The Rolling Stones
• Outside the Trains Don’t Run On Time – Gang Of Four
• Night Flight – Led Zeppelin
• Train Round the Bend – The Velvet Underground
• Get Me Back On Time, Engine Number 9 – Wilson Pickett

Okay, I’m going to stop there. There really are a lot of songs about trains. Who would have guessed? I kept some off that could have been on like Midnight Special because it was on another list. Come back tomorrow for list number 10.

The Twelve Top Fives Of Christmas #8 "I'm Sorry Baby I'll Never Do It Again" The Top Five Songs Asking For Forgiveness

Alright, so yesterday we had our mid-list crisis, and we ended up going out and doing something bad. Now it’s the next day and we’re in trouble. So because of that, today’s top five, number eight in the twelve top fives of Christmas, is the top fives songs asking your wife or girlfriend for forgiveness and or trying to get them back if they’ve left. Wow, that’s a bit of a mouthful.

1. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg – The Temptations
2. Give Me Another Chance – Big Star
3. Good Bye My Love (Parts 1 & 2) – James Brown
4. Everybody Makes A Mistake – Otis Redding so this is another one that I couldn't find online, I'm gonna have to figure out some way to get the files uploaded or linked or something.
5. You Like Me Too Much – The Beatles

Okay, so that’s my list, I don’t really think these ones need too much explanation. I’ll be back tomorrow for day number nine.

Also I figured I'd link I Need You as a runner up and just for fun.

The Twelve Top Fives Of Christmas #7: Top Five Songs About Being A Badass

Well, it’s day number seven in the twelve top fives of Christmas. I’m starting to feel like I’m having a bit of a mid list crisis so I figured the best thing to do would be to have a top five most badass songs. These songs are first and foremost about being a badass. The basic idea is “I’m a badass and I gotta tell everyone, so here’s my song.” This kind of song is one of my favorites so here’s my list: top five songs about being a badass.

1. Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones (Here's a live version.)
2. Search and Destroy – Iggy and The Stooges (Live)
3. It’s Hard to be a Saint in The City – Bruce Springsteen
4. A Man and A Half – Wilson Pickett I couldn't find an online version of this one. I know I have found one before so I don't know what happened to it. I tried to upload an audio file of it but it didn't work. I have to go, so I'll try it again later when have time.
5. Whore Hoppin’ – The Eagles of Death Metal (Live)

Okay, so this list was pretty tough. I had a hard time deciding where each song should go. They are all pretty much on equal playing field. This is how I decided.
I put sympathy first, because, really when it comes down to it, what can be more badass than outright declaring that you are the devil and not just out right declaring, but making people guess for the first half of the song. It’s a game just like the devil would play. You can’t really get more badass than that. Once in 1969, I believe, A guy was even murdered while the band played this song. That's Badass. Needless to say the Stones stopped preforming the song Live. It wasn't until recently that it once again added to their set list.

Search and Destroy made it a close number two simply because the delivery and conviction of Iggy’s performance, as well as the accompanying guitar solo. You really believe the desperation. He really needs someone to save his soul.

It’s Hard to be a Saint came in at number three, because I think the writing in this song is amazing. “I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra. I was born blue and weathered but I burst just like a supernova. I could walk like Brando right into the sun, dance just like a Casanova.” That is a badass list. Damn. A supernova is when a star dies. That’s a big explosion. It’s hard to deny how badass that is. This song paints a picture of what life in Jersey was like in the early 70s. Back before the guys all just did sit up all day and the girls punched each other in the eyes for breakfast.

Number four, Wilson Picketr - A Man and A Half. This really could have been number one. A song telling all the ladies that you’re packing a little bit extra. He’s not just a man, he’s a man and a half, and every other man envies him for it. This song is fantastic. It’s only number four because of how close the list competition was and based on the logic I was trying to use I couldn’t really put it any higher.

Whore Hoppin’, number five. This song is great fun. It’s about being a badass picking up girls, and being related to the devil. “I can’t lose, cause I’m the devils favorite son.” That’s pretty damn badass. This song is about being a man.

There are some other songs that probably could have made the list too.

The Yardbirds – I’m a Man. Clarence Carter – Looking for a Fox.

Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow with list number eight.

The Twelve Top Fives Of Christmas #6: Top Five Songs About Jail

Day number six, it’s the half way mark. So in trying to keep up with trying to relate each of my top fives to the corresponding lyric of the song, I tried to come up with a few ideas for geese laying eggs. I thought about trying to do a list of best catalogues or best one hit wonders or notably bad songs by bands that normally put out good stuff, but in the end I decided I didn’t like any of those ideas. So I just abandoned it for now. I decided to do the top 5 songs about being in jail.

1. The Midnight Special – Lead Belly (The CCR version is better known so I’m linking both.)
2. Jailhouse Rock – Elvis Presley
3. Borstal Boys – The Faces
4. Care of Cell 44 – The Zombies
5. Jailbreak – Thin Lizzy

Care of Cell 44 more about knowing someone in jail and Jailbreak is about breaking out of jail, but I still counted them.

Five Of Twelve: Five Golden Gods

Today is day number five in my holiday extravaganza that is the twelve top fives of Christmas. Today’s top five is the five golden gods. For this list I’m basically using two criteria. The first part is best front man, and the second is best dancer. So those who make the best of these two criteria combined, are going to be making the list.

1. James Brown
2. Mick Jagger
3. Michael Jackson
4. Elvis Presley
5. Wilson Picket

So again it’s about the two criteria combined, that’s why even though Michal was a better dancer then Mick, Mick is still higher up.

The Twelve Top Fives Of Christmas #4 Top Five Smooth Voices

I went to sleep last night, and woke up this morning, which means only one thing. Today is day number four in the twelve top fives of Christmas. Yesterday, while I was working on coming up with my top five, I received a suggestion. It was simple. I should try to relate all of my lists to the lyric to the song the twelve days of Christmas. I had planed to do that with day number five. You’ll see what I mean tomorrow. Anyway, I decided that I would give it a try. I don’t know if I’ll keep it up for all of the remaining days, and that’s just because I don’t know if I’ll be able to make a connection from the lyric to the list every time. There are also a few lists I already have planned and I’m going to use those ones even if I can’t make a connection. Okay, so I better get to the list. Because day four is four song birds singing I decided to make the list the top five smoothest male singing voices. I picking only male voices because that narrows it down a bit. I’ll try to fit female voices in somewhere later on. Anyway, here it is the top five smoothest male singing voices.

1. Sam Cooke
2. Marvin Gaye
3. Smokey Robinson
4. Morrissey
5. Gram Parsons

I know it’s kind of harder to do just names, so I’ll try not to do it too much. I just picked random songs to put with them. Basically, what I was looking for in the smoothest voices was just for lack of a better word smoothness. Comment and let me know what you think. Who do you think should make this list? What’s your top five? I thought of putting Michael Jackson on this list, but in the end I didn’t his voice is pretty smooth. Well, don’t worry Mike, there’s still quite a few top fives left.

Day #3 Top 5 Songs Driven By A Guitar Solo

It’s time for the third top five of Christmas. Today, I’m doing top five songs driven by a guitar solo. So the criteria break down I’m going to use is this. The song has to driven by a guitar solo and it has to be long. For this list I’m saying longer than seven minutes, and that’s on the studio release. No live versions. I almost made it upwards of ten minutes, but I decided there were some in the seven minute range that I deserved to be on this list. Because of this a lot of great solos are getting over looked by this list, but I do still have nine list to go, so don’t fret. I’m planning on doing a best guitar solos ever recorded. Also you may have noticed I only do one band or artist per list. So even if that band has two or three really good ones I only pick their best and the other spots go to another of the same caliber. Anyway, I’ll get to the list now.

1. Cow Girl In The Sand – Neil Young
2. Maggot Brain – Funkadelic
3. Oh Sweet Nuthin’ – The Velvet Underground
4. Little Johnny Jewel (Parts 1 & 2) – Television
5. Five Long Years – Buddy Guy

That’s my list. I know, I know. There are a lot of others that could have made it. Like Voodoo Chile. The fifteen minute one off of Electric Lady Land. I even thought about using Since I’ve Been Loving You, but like I told you, I just had to tell myself. There will be other top fives.

The Twelve Top Fives Of Chirstmas #2: Top Five Songs About A Car

Today an idea came to me. It’s directly related to the top five I posted yesterday. I can’t really explain how the idea popped into my head. One minute I was writing text messages to the tune to The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll and the next the idea was there, bouncing around my head. It a simple idea, and for the most part a silly idea, I thought I should do another top five. And then, I thought well I can’t just start doing top fives that has no purpose, but then I thought, wait, I can make a theme. I’ll do the twelve top fives of Christmas. So that’s my idea. And here’s top five number two: top five songs about a car.

1. Road Runner – The Modern Lovers
2. Thunder Express – The MC5
3. You Can’t Catch Me – Chuck Berry
4. Ramrod – Bruce Springsteen
5. Little Duce Coupe – The Beach boys


I tried to keep it songs about cars that involved driving the cars. It was actually kind of tough. There were a few songs that mentioned cars that I would have liked to have used but I just didn’t think they were enough about the car. Anyway, anyone who wants to should post their suggestions like on the last top five.

Top 5 Sad Songs

Holy smokes, it’s my last blog post of the term. Wow, that went by fast. Okay, so I need to keep this one short. I can’t go over 200 words. I don’t have enough short ones for the assignment. Okay, that doesn’t matter to anyone but me, so I’ll get on track.

I planed to do a top five of the saddest songs for this post, but because of other assignments and deadlines I some how managed to neglect the idea enough that I don’t think I’ll be happy with the finished product, so I’ll probably amend it in the future. Anyone who wants to should post their own top five or just suggest songs they think should be on it. Here’s what I have.

1. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll – Bob Dylan
2. Slim Slow Slider – Van Morrison
3. Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing – Buffalo Springfield (Neil Young)
4. Atlantic City – Bruce Springsteen
5. Everybody’s Been Burned – The Byrds

Like I said, I might amend this one, and I am. I won't change the list, but this should have been number one. I don't know how it slipped my mind.

The Replacements - You're Getting Married

PS. Don't mind the name of the youtube video. They got it wrong, but it had the best audio. Also the version on the CD I have is better and sounds sadder, just saying.

I Digress

Well, I’ve been a bit off topic for the last couple of posts. This is because I was trying to get all caught up on assignments and I wanted to get all of my blog assignments out of the way, before they were due. I’ve really been neglecting the blog over all though for the past few weeks, and it’s really just because I’ve been so busy with school work, I never seem to be able to find the time to sit down and blog.

I’m gonna get back on track, back on topic and back to where I belong (groan). I’m trying to fill my quota of short blog posts so I’m gonna try to keep this one short.

I figure since this is about the sound track of my life, I’ll talk about what has been dominating my playlist lately. Mainly I’ve been listening to a lot of things; I’ve had my iPhone on shuffle. Marvin Gaye is on the list of artists that come up frequently, the song that stands out is called His Eye is on the Sparrow. Today, I stopped on the Faces and Rod Stewart as well. One song that has been stuck in my head for a few weeks now is a song called, She by Gram Parsons. I’m trying to keep this a short post so I’ll stop here. I do want to follow up with another post about Gram Parsons at some point though. So watch for that.

The Yellow Review

Okay, so as the final part of my creative writing blog assignment I’m reviewing a short story.

The story is called The Yellow and it was written by Samantha Hunt. It was published in the November 29 issue of the New Yorker in 2010, so this year for anyone counting.
I loved this story. Now I know you’re supposed to keep objectivity and stuff, but it’s really good. Personally I found it really moving, and maybe it’s because there’s a dog in it and I love dogs. I am actually repeatedly haunted by dreams of my own dog, Freckles, who passed away last year. In the dreams she’s alive and well and we’re going for a walk. Usually part way through the dream I realize she’s dead and, become confused by her resurrection. I end up waking up to the realization that she’s in fact dead and not some how brought back to life, and I spend the morning coming to terms with it. I think it’s all due to the fact that I spend a good part of my life convincing myself she would never die. You’d be surprised what you can convince yourself of.

Anyway I digress. The story has very interesting characters. I found the character development to be fantastic, there is one character who only appears for a short time and says one thing, but that’s all you need to know that character. The two main characters have much more time spent on them and they are both as interesting and likeable as they are unlikeable.

The pacing of the story is very interesting, it beings with a slower pace then acculturates quickly. It’s very fitting of the story, it seems panicked and out of control, which reflects what the characters are going through.

I also enjoyed the dialog; it seemed quite realistic and slightly detached, which I think reflected the characters. There’s quite a bit of depth and I don’t want to give away what happens in the story, but that makes it hard to really get the depth across. This is the description the New Yorker gives the story:

“Short story about an unemployed man who moves back in with his parents and hits a dog while out driving…”

That doesn’t exactly explain it all. So do yourself a favor and go read the four pages.

Annie's Bright Idea: A Book Launch

Last night I attended a book launch and reading for the children’s book “Annie’s Bright Idea: A Christmas Adventure” by Audrhea Lande, illustrations by Jenny Prest.



It was nothing like what I expected. In my mind I had contrived this preconceived idea that it would be a small area with the author sitting on a sofa or a leisure chair reading to a small group of people who sat around her listening attentively, as she read from her book occasionally turning it around to show pictures. Not unlike what library class was like in elementary school.

Well this wasn’t like that at all the place was packed. I almost didn’t get in. Luckily some people left right as I was being turned away, and the hostess asked me to return.



The seat I ended up getting was way in the back and I could hardly see anything.



I was able to get a view of the large projector screen that showed images of the pages as Lande read the book, which I have to say was quite entertaining. I actually wanted to buy a copy of it, but it sold out so quickly that I didn’t get a chance.



Lande only read about half the book stopping at a perfect cliffhanger, which is probably part of what caused the books to sell out so quickly. Other than, of course, the fact that it was very entertaining. Lande later, said she didn’t plan on stopping at that point, which I suppose, makes it a very fitting coincidence.

After the reading Lande went table to table signing books for children and adults alike.



It was an interesting experience to say the least. I had no idea what book readings were like and the kind of following they generate.

Lest We Forget

Yesterday was Remembrance Day. I had originally planned to make this post last night, but because I was up late working on a journalism assignment I didn’t get a chance to write it.
Part of my journalism assignment was to go to a Remembrance Day service. I hadn’t attended one in a very long time. I’m not sure of the exact time, but it’s been about eight years since I finished high school, and I think it was sometime before that, when I last attended a Remembrance Day service.

My memories of them are kind of blurred. I remember that a few uniformed soldiers would attend. Students who were military cadets would also attend the services dressed in uniform. Everyone would be given poppies at the beginning of day. The gym would be full of students sitting cross legged, and some one would recite Flanders Fields. I have a particular vivid memory of two girls singing Imagine by John Lennon at one service.

The Service I attended yesterday seemed much different than the services I remembered from my youth. Part of it is probably my age, which I think comes with a higher understanding of the significance of what Remembrance Day means.

There was an understanding of the weight and seriousness of the event by everyone involved that came across in the presentation. The solemn looks on the faces of the veterans who experienced conflict first hand was instantly recognizable. They really know what this day means.

The readings at the service were moving and powerful. A particularly well spoken reading of the Soldiers’ Prayer moved many of the people in attendance to tears. It was a performance, but the speaker wasn’t performing to show off his ability to clearly articulate and emphasize the words he read. He was bringing to life all of those that are now without a voice, clearly illustrating what the words representing them meant, and attempting to show all of us who couldn’t possibly begin to imagine what they went through what they felt while going through it.

I always knew Remembrance Day was important, but after attending yesterday’s service, speaking to a veteran and seeing pictures of a now 80 year old man, when he was younger than me, dressed in uniform, and imagining the magnitude of the responsibility that was taken on by that generation, gave me a whole understanding of its significance.

I don’t know if it’s entirely appropriate, I decided to embed Shine a Light by the Rolling Stones.

The Mystery of the Sticky Fingers Bandit

Well, I think it’s been far too long since I made a decent blog post. Today, I want to talk about a mystery. This particular mystery happens to be unsolved, yet there are a few theories that possibly explain what happened. However, none of these theories have been proven.

It all started just over three years ago. Some months before I had purchased the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers, I say some months because some of the records for the case were destroyed in a fire that I made up to create continuity in this blog post to make it look like I’ve actually been investigating this case. Sticky fingers is in my humble opinion is one of the Stones’ best albums, one could even argue that it is their best album. So the some months that I spent with that album were some of the finest rock and roll months of my life, but it all came crashing down one infamous July evening in 2007.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I walked to the kitchen table where my CD wallet had been sitting, and opened the wallet. I stood astonished and aghast. There was an empty slot where previously there had been a CD. I quickly went through the wallet looking at all the CDs trying to figure out which was missing. After making sure that it wasn’t mistakenly put into the same slot as another CD. I tried to control my anxiety. I began searching everywhere I could think.

“Maybe it wasn’t in the CD wallet. I’ll check the Case. Not there. Maybe the CD player, check it. Not there. I know I’ll check my car CD player. Not there.”

Soon I was overcome by the horror of knowing my CD was gone. I pursued all the avenues, the lost and found at work, My CD player at work, the inside of my car, my work’s parking lot, all to no avail.

I had been working the overnight shift that week and had a caller that morning before I went to bed for the day. Immediately my suspicions turned to her. However, that was quickly ruled out, not for lack of evidence, but because I don’t really think she even liked the Stones. I don’t really even actually consider it a theory, I just threw it in because I said I had a few theories, and I didn’t want to have to go back and change that to a couple.

The second theory is probably the most likely. There’s a good chance the CD could have fallen out of the wallet when I was walking to my car that morning. Then anyone passing by throughout the day could have picked it up. I mean it’s Sticky Fingers, some guy was probably walking by and saw it and was like, “score!” On the other hand though, it’s likely that if someone had found it they would turn it in to the lost and found. One time, I did this pen experiment in the atrium, and this pen just stuck around for weeks. I bet the thing is still there even a couple of years later. Anyway, that’s probably better left to a different blog post. I did check the lost and found and scoured the parking lot looking for it. So if someone did find it they took it, if that is in fact what happened.

This is the third and final theory, and the one that I choose to believe, despite my lack of evidence or real investigating.

This will take a little bit of back story. It all started when this crazy thing happened at my work. I can’t really go into detail about it because I’m pretty sure it’s not really supposed to get talked about. So to make a long story that I can’t talk about short, I’ll just say for a particular reason security guards were hanging out in the area that I worked in for the over night shift for a couple of shifts. Anyway, basically what I think happened is that one of the security guards made off with my copy of Sticky Fingers. (It’s kind of fitting right? He’s like the Sticky Fingers bandit.)

At first I had thought it was a different security guard than the one that I currently suspect. The first suspect was an older man and he had talked to me about my music that night, but his demeanor towards me never changed and I had several conversations with him after the incident so it became really hard for me to believe that he could be the guilty party.

Around the same time that I began to realize that it was probably unlikely to be the older security guard. I began to consider that I might have brought the theft upon myself. Now if that sounds peculiar, allow me to explain further.

See the second suspect, who is a much younger guy, is a bit of an odd duck. The shift I was working where he was in the room, he kind of looked lost and was wondering around with a dumbfounded look on his face. Because he was there for a reason which was, and for the sake of my story I’ll give out this one detail, to look out for a crazy former employee who had just recently started no longer working there, I decided because I thought I was clever and because he looked so lost to say, “I think he might be over there in that back corner, you should go check it out,” which he then proceeded to do. He, of course returned from the corner with a slightly confused slightly annoyed face. I hadn’t expected him to go off to the corner. I kind of thought he would have picked up on my humor.

Anyway, it was after that night that my copy of Sticky Fingers went missing. Now I know that wasn’t much proof, and the only other thing that I have to go on, which really isn’t that much at all, is that even though that guy was pretty awkward to begin with he became even more awkward around me and one day shortly after that night, I passed him in the hall, and the whole time he looked away from me. Then right after he walked by me he let out a sigh of relief. A sigh that said, “Whew, I got away with it.”

That’s pretty much my whole case right there. As you can probably tell it’s no surprise that this case remains unsolved today. So as I sit here looking at my empty Sticky Fingers jewel case I think back and remember better times when I could sit and listen to Brown Sugar, Sway, Wild Horses, Can’t You Hear Me Knocking, You Gotta Move, Bitch, I got the blues, Sister Morphine, Dead Flowers, and Moonlight Mile all in that order. One of these days I’m just going to have to go out and buy it again.

P.S. I decided to embed the version of Bitch just because it was so good.

You're the Man

I decided to post this song in the spirit of the Winnipeg civic election tonight.

Cause if you got a master plan, gonna have'ta vote for you. You're the Man.

The Social Network Movie

Right now, I’m going to do a little bit of speed blogging for you. This one is an assignment for PR class. I’ve got a time limit and everything. It’s like blog time trials. Okay here I go.

Today’s post is about the new movie The Social Network. I’m pretty sure everyone has heard of it, and if not, everyone has for sure heard of Facebook.com. That’s exactly what The Social Network is about: it is a dramatization of Mark Zuckerberg’s life during the period in which he created the immensely popular social networking website.

From what I’ve heard from talking to other people I have been given the impression that most people seem to think that this movie was a great achievement. I’ve heard so many people say that they thought it was such a good movie, an Oscar contender even. I think I even remember hearing someone say that they thought that this movie defined our generation. Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and here’s mine.

I didn’t really like this movie very much. I don’t think it was the worst movie ever, but it’s not great. It’s not even good; on the other hand, it’s not awful,or terrible. The Social Network is averagely bad like the Kings of Leon. You know, sort of boring, sometimes mildly entertaining, but over all unremarkable.

I’m not going to do a total breakdown of the movie. There might be a spoiler coming though, so if you haven’t watched it yet, you might want to put off reading any further. Now just to get things moving I’m going to do a quick overview of what happens I’m not planning on going into much detail. Basically, the movie opens with Mr. Zuckerberg getting dumped. His girl friend feels that he’s being an arrogant asshole. She has enough and kicks him to the curb. From that part on he’s in a bad mood, and ends up screwing over pretty much everyone. He does all these shady dealings where he kind of steals intellectual property or right out screws over his best friend. A big part of the movie is made up of litigation scenes where he is getting sued, and they’re just having meetings with lawyers going over the cases. That part takes place after the main story in the time line, but those scenes are intermingled with the scenes of the process of the creation of Facebook throughout the movie.

The movie really makes Zuckerberg look like a jerk. He starts off arrogant and then switches to a more devious persona where he’s kind lying to people and doing things behind their backs. Then he kind of turns back arrogant, with an I’m rich so I’m more important than you and I can do whatever I want kind of attitude. He’s really not shown in the best light. However, in some ways he’s still a likeable character. It doesn’t ever seem like he’s evil or inhuman. I would describe him more as a character that sort of loses himself and makes the wrong decisions. I’m pretty sure everyone has made a wrong decision before. So people can still relate to him.

I think that Zuckerberg’s response to the movie makes sense. It’s just a movie. I don’t think that all of a sudden he is going to find himself vilified by all the users of Facebook just because of this movie. In some ways I think that audiences will be able to relate more to Zuckerberg after watching The Social Network. He came off like a twenty-something college kid, who hadn’t fully grown up yet. Isn’t that the same demographic that most Facebook users find themselves in? I think that when he said that his life really wasn’t that dramatic, it was a very good response to the film, because it’s probably pretty likely that his life wasn’t that dramatic. It is a movie after all. I don’t really think that the establishment of his charity foundation and the donation of 100 million dollars was really a big deal. Yeah the timing was a little sketchy, but I figure that if he waits a bit, and then donates another hundred mil, and then does it a few more times after that, so that it just becomes something he does; people are going to forget that the first time he did it was when The Social Network came out. They’ll just think, “Man that Zuckerberg, he sure gives away a lot of money. Good for him.”

I don’t think the movie will affect Facebook in anyway: people are going to keep using it. What it might do, referring back to what I said earlier, is give people in our generation a reason to say, this our movie it’s about something that happened when we were the target consumer demographic. Other than that, as far as I can tell, and I’m no expert, Facebook is an unsinkable ship.

Now, I just want to leave with two more thoughts:

The thing that really bugged me about the movie was, like I said, it was slow moving and I waited two hours and ten minutes to find out that he decided to settle his lawsuits out of court. I mean, really. It actually happens like this: the one lawyer is like, Okay, you’re probably going to lose in court. You should settle. And then, “I don’t think you’re an asshole. You’re just trying really hard to be one.” If that quote isn’t exact, sorry. Oh, and then he pines over the girl that dumped him in the beginning for a bit more. And then, let’s wrap it all up in a nice bow by explaining what happens to everyone with their own text paragraph. You can’t see it, but I’m making an unimpressed face.

And the second and last thing I want to say is that the best part of the whole movie. And I mean best part by far, was when the credits rolled and Baby, You’re a Rich Man started playing. Seriously, that nearly made the whole movie worthwhile.

If I Ventured In The Slipstream...

I’ve been meaning to do this blog post for a while. It’s kind of funny, it was actually originally intended to be my second blog post, but somehow as more and more posts came up it kept getting postponed. I had actually got to the point where I started to worry if I’d ever get around to doing it. It appears, however, that not getting around to it will no longer be a problem, since I’m posting it right now.

Anyway this post is about the Van Morrison album Astral Weeks. It’s easily one of my favorite albums of all time. I’m pretty sure it even makes my top five list. I’m not going to do a top five albums right now, just because I don’t really want to go and start thinking about it. I’ll leave that for another blog entry. Okay, so getting back on track, Astral Weeks is a perfect album. That is, of course, based on my opinion. There are other albums I think are perfect, Astral Weeks just happens to meet that same criteria.

It’s difficult to explain exactly what Astral Weeks is like to anyone who hasn’t listened to it. It’s sad, and beautiful, and happy, and epic all at the same time. In the end it is just an immensely powerful and emotional album.

Now I kind of feel like I have to back up a bit, because to most people when they think Van Morrison, they think Brown Eyed Girl. So just to be clear, Astral Weeks is nothing like that. Not even close. Don’t get me wrong Astral Weeks is in some ways pop-like, but it’s really a whole different animal. It’s not nearly as accessible to a main stream audience.

For arguments sake, lets take Van Morrison’s album Moondance which was released in 1970, two years after Astral Weeks. Moondance is a fantastic album. It’s the album that got me into Van Morrison. It’s much more poppy and probably a little bit closer to what people who only know Brown Eyed Girl would expect. Moondance is still a very powerful album. All the songs are great. It’s just, in my opinion, more of a song oriented album. Each song stands on its own and the listener feels a distinct division between songs, and can listen to any one song on the album by itself without listening to the rest.

After getting into Moondance, which happened immediately after I bought it. I was actually shocked by how much I liked Van Morrison. I was sort of upset with myself for not getting into him sooner. It was an eye opener. Anyway, probably a few weeks after that, I went out and bought Astral Weeks. The first time I put it on I couldn’t even make it though the whole thing. It wasn’t anything like Moondance and that really threw me off. It ended up taking me quite sometime to get into it. I guess one thing that helped was when I borrowed my copy of Moondance to a friend of mine and she decided she was never going to return it. In fact she is still in possession of that copy, and I have since replaced it.

Getting back on track, once I did get into Astral Weeks I discovered that I liked it a great deal more then Moondance. (Again I’m not trying to down play how good Moondance is. That album is killer, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to get into Van Morrison and isn’t sure what to get first. Get Moondance first, trust me.) I found that Astral Weeks worked as an album, all the songs are great, but what really makes them great is the way they are sequenced. The album just unfolds. It’s a masterpiece. When I listen to it, it feels like it’s a musical summary of a life or a relationship. It’s just extremely powerful. I kind of wanted to do a break down of each track, but after kind of trying I decided that there was no way I could really do them justice. So if you want to hear what they’re like you’re just going to have to go out and find yourself a copy. I will say this though; keep in mind it can take a little while to get into. The album is very heavy, not in today’s sense of what heavy is, but in the sense that the arrangement is very thick. There’s so much going on at first that it can be hard to take it all in. Once you do however, you’ll get lost in the melody and find yourself picking new thing out of the mix even after over 100 listenings. Each time you find something new you’ll find something new to love about it.

There’s also a bunch of other stuff Van Morrison has put out that’s great too, Wild Night for example. And of course there's Gloria, Which has to be one of the ten best rock and roll songs of all time.

Beware

Who ya gonna call? Phonebusters! Okay, maybe I should give that some context.
Over the last few weeks my Ad class was working on a project called Buyer Beware. It’s a project that consists of picking a topic, conducting research, forming a conclusion, then presenting the findings in an oral presentation and in a 5 to 10 page report. The idea is to look at the topic with the best interest of the consumer in mind. In other words, to point out anything that’s a bit shady and might be trying to rip the customer off.
My group, group number 3, chose to do our Buyer Beware on the ever-increasing trend of false real estate listings on online classified websites.
While looking for an apartment, one of my group members had come across several listings for apartments that all seemed too good to be true. Each was spacious, furnished, allowed pets, and was listed at a price much below the normal for an equivalent apartment. They would normally have photographs of the interior that showed hardwood floors in good condition and wood furniture.
Some potential tenants looking for an apartment who come across these ads might find themselves jumping up and knocking their wheelie-office chair over, while at the same time throwing their hands in the air and shouting, “What a Bargain!”
However, before these hardworking, apartment needing salt of the earth types get too excited I feel obligated to caution them. “Consider this my friend,” I would say. Then I would ask them a few questions about the apartment listing.
Is the listing written in all caps?
Does the listing have an over abundance of awkward phrasing and spelling and grammatical errors?
Is the person who posted the listing very much in love with their apartment, by which, I mean has this been overstated to the extreme?
Is the apartment much cheaper than it should be?
Have the persons who posted the listing recently left town for some glanderous reason? Ex. they are doctors who have gone to Africa to aid in Aids relief or some other philanthropic trip overseas.
Are you unable to view the apartment?
Does the person who has listed the apartment need you to send them the money before they will mail you the key?
If the hypothetical tenants answered yes to any of these questions, I’d have to suggest that the listing is probably a scam, and I would recommend that they do not send any money to the person who posted the listing.
I will even recommend that any persons who have come across listings like this call Phonebusters, which is a Canadian government website that is affiliated with RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police, and Competition Bureau of Canada.
Currently Phonebusters doesn’t have any information on their site about this type of scam. This could be for several reasons: this kind of scam could be so new that they site just hasn’t been updated yet, there may not have been enough cases to warrant them updating it, or they may just haven’t had enough people call them to report this type of scam. So if you come across one, consider calling them.

Happy Birthday

For anyone who hasn’t already heard, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that by now everyone has been to YouTube today and found out, today is John Lennon’s 70^th birthday. I decided that I’d write a blog post related to it.

I really dig the Beatles – I don’t think I could really stress that enough – and I really did John Lennon. By the way there is this sweet Lennon boxed set that just came out. When I saw that I was like, “cool.” anyway, the Beatles are totally my favorite band, and I guess this is kind of weird, but I kind of think of the Beatles as my best friends. You know, even though I’ve never met them. That’s just how I imagine it in my head. Now before you start worrying that I’m crazy. It’s not as if I’m so deluded that, if one day I saw Paul or Ringo walking down the street I’d run up to him and be like, “hey buddy, let’s head down to the mall and get some fish and chips.” I just like to think of them as my buds.

I guess I should focus more on John; it is his birthday after all. As much as I love the Beatles, I also really like John’s solo stuff. Some of his best stuff is on his solo albums. For example, I love Plastic Ono Band. That album is kind of like a roller coaster, it takes you all over the place. It takes you up, and then down, and then it takes you up again, and then it flips you over, and then it takes you back down again, and then you’re all like, “Whoa, let’s go again.”

Anyway, this is my favorite song off of Plastic Ono Band, it’s called Remember.

Mayoral Forum at RRC

I attended the mayoral forum that was held at RRC on Wednesday. That was the 6^th for anyone who is curious. It was the first time I’d ever attended one. I have to say, it was pretty fun. The candidates, Sam Katz and Judy Wasylycia-Leis, had a pretty heated debate. It was highly entertaining. Despite the fact that they were, at times, practically at each other’s throats, both of them seemed to be having a pretty good time too. I think that if I got the chance I would go to another one. There was one part where Katz brought up rock and roll and concerts. I thought I’d mention that just so it sticks with the theme of my blog. In the end I think Katz came out on top in the forum, but it was really close. I still don’t any idea whom I’m going to vote for.

I ended up being asked a question by the forum moderator, Richard Cloutier, so I got to be broadcasted over the airwaves on CJOB. That was kind of cool. I sort of felt like a jerk though, because I was caught off guard, and I think I worded my answer poorly. After that, I was interviewed by CBC, and they even used my quote in the story that aired later, so I made it on the news. I think that was the first time all year that I was news worthy. Heh, that’s a little bit of journalism humor. Yeah I know it’s not funny. Okay, so here’s the link to the CBC story. I look really bad in it. After I watched it I decided I need a hair cut.

The Who versus The Stones: Rock and Roll Death Match

All right, as per Kenton’s request, here is my opinion on the Who versus the Stones. (I do agree the Beatles are the best.)

Well, I think this would be a tough match. I really love both bands and find it tough to declare an outright winner. I think it could go either way depending on what evidence is put forward.

For example if you choose to look at the DVD “The Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus,” you’d probably give the nod to the Who right off the hop. The Who’s performance of “A Quick One While He’s Away” is astounding. It demolished any of the performances the Stones did on that DVD. I don’t know if this is true but I have heard that it’s the reason why the tour was canceled. It was like the Who turned into a locomotive traveling at top speed, jumping a ravine, doing a back flip in the air and then landing on the tracks on the other side before sliding into the station right on time. It’s insane. That band was tight!

One thing you do have to consider though was that the Stones were going through a pretty tough time. Rock and Roll Circus was filmed shortly before Brian Jones died. I don’t know how shortly and I’m not going to look it up right now. (If anyone wants me to I can, and I’ll post it later.)Anyway, the Stones were pretty close to breaking up. It took them a lot of takes to get the tracks down and they were running out of time. I think their deadline was like the next morning and they were filming all night doing take after take, and they just couldn’t get it right. I think they even gave up by the end and kind of did a cop out version of “Salt of the Earth” where Keith and Mick are sitting in the audience singing the song. Anyway, that’s not important. I mean it still turned out okay. I mean I love that DVD, before I move on I’m going to mention the Dirty Mac and Taj Mahal, look them up or just buy the DVD, it’s like 20 bucks and well worth it.

Okay, back to the debate. The Stones do have some wicked live stuff. There is Ladies and Gentlemen for example. I’m not going to talk too much about it because it already has its own post. To sum it up, it’s a feature length concert back to front, and it’s really, really good. So I think that makes up for the Who showing up the Stones on their own circus-concert-variety-show-thinger. So I’d say that puts us at about even.

I figure I might as well touch on live albums, I don’t know for sure but I think the Stones have more. I kind of mentioned it above, and I’ll make it more clear here. The research on this post is a little loose. I’m just going by my prior knowledge. I could look this stuff up, but I’m tired and it’s late. Like I said before if anyone wants me to check this stuff and do follow up later just leave a comment in the comment section below. (That sounds familiar.) Anyway, I’m sure you can find plenty of live bootlegs by both the Stones and the Who. There is the one bootleg of the Stones, “Live in Brussels,” that I have to mention though. It is insane. Then the Who have “Live at Leeds,” which was actually released. And the Stones have “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s out!” Both of those are really good.

So I feel that we’re still neck-and-neck. So lets look at there studio recordings. Now I’m not going to go into serious detail, mainly because this is already pretty long and I want to go to bed, but I also want to post this tonight. So I’m going to try and wrap it up quickly. (Again I can do a more in depth follow up if you want.)Both bands have great catalogues, two of the best in rock and roll history. Personally I think the Stones’ is a little bit better, but not by much.

After all that I still don’t really feel, like there is a clear winner. I personally like the Stones a tiny bit better, but that’s really for my own reasons, and it’s such a close call that I can hardly choose. It really comes down to when I watch A Quick One, then I’m all okay the Who has it, but when I listen to Sticky Fingers, its’ hard not so give the nod to the Stones. So here I am nearly 800 words later and I didn’t give you a clear answer. I’m sorry.

Give or take a minute to read some of my writing.

I’ve been thinking about my blog lately and I started thinking that as part of my blog’s theme I should have some posts that include some of my writing. My idea became solidified when I realized that I part of my creative writing blog assignment is posting a piece of my own creative writing.

Most of you or all of you for that matter, probably don’t know that I write poetry and song lyrics, I can guess that none of you know simply because I haven’t really told anyone. Anyway, I’m not really sure of a better way to introduce these. So I’ll just let them speak for themselves.

Tied to the shore

Give or take a minute

While I stare at the ground

I haven’t spoken in centuries

I miss that smile’s sound

Been out walking

Tied to the shore

I’m not looking

Cause I’ve seen it all before

Over the willow trees

I stopped and watched the sun

In and out of everything

Those memories run

Been out walking

Tied to the shore

I’m not looking

Cause I’ve seen it all before

Eight dozen old foot prints

Hiding under the snow

Something’s are better

When no one else knows

Been out walking

Tied to the shore

I’m not looking

Cause I’ve seen it all before

Remember Denver

She asked, “Can you wait till tomorrow?

I sighed, “I’ve been waiting forever.”

She said, “You cause your own problems,”

I said, “It’s probably something I’ll grow out of.”

Just then the rope slipped further

Two more feet, then we’re hanging by a thread

Remember when we lived in Denver

The world kept the promises it made back then

But it’s no harder then it ever was

We just fold early and that’s because

We’re trying to build a house in un-level ground

And she said, “You know you’re different now.”

Then I replied, “No honey, you’re the one that’s changed.”

She snapped back, “What’s your problem?”

I looked her in the eyes then I turned and walked away,

Just then the rope slipped further

Two more feet, then we’re hanging by a thread

Remember when we lived in Denver

The world kept the promises it made back then

But it’s no harder then it ever was

We just fold early and that’s because

We’re trying to build a house in un-level ground

Fair trade

I’ve been lying here

Buying something to prove

Sometimes telling the truth

And sometimes not

Trade a dollar bill

For some corporate luck

Lie to make a sale

And pass the buck

It’s a fair trade for a free world

It’s all the same

Even if it’s not

You can stay after you get paid

But you can leave if you want

I’ve been dying here

Trying to buy new shoes

Selling old news

To further the plot

Trade a dollar bill

For some corporate luck

Lie to make a sale

And pass the buck

It’s a fair trade for a free world

It’s all the same

Even if it’s not

You can stay after you get paid

But you can leave if you want

Born to roll

The night held us on trial

As the streetlights painted your face

we walked a silent mile

Sometimes nothing is the best thing to say

Trapped by some sweet aroma

While the moon raced across the sky

Just as we whispered hello

I heard the autumn wind scream good-bye

But isn’t it living

To watch the stars begin to fall

And isn’t it fitting

That we’re both stones born to roll

Like a tacky poem

Saturated in clichéd devices

I travel alone

But I keep one eye on the horizon

And isn’t it living

To watch the stars begin to fall

But isn’t it fitting

That we’re both stones born to roll

The night held us on trial

While the moon raced across the sky

Just as we whispered hello

I heard the autumn wind screaming good-bye

But isn’t it living

To watch the stars begin to fall

And isn't it fitting

That we’re both stones born to roll

And isn’t it living

To watch the stars begin to fall

But isn’t it fitting

That we’re both stones born to roll

So I guess that’s four, I have more and some are more poem like, these ones were written to be songs. In a way a guess they are kind of cheesy.

Well that’s all for today. I’m going to respond to the comments on the last post in the next one. I want to try to post more often. My new personal goal is to post twice a week.