I love Phil Collins as much as the next guy. Ok, well maybe a little more than the next guy. Because of this i was happy to see this ad for chocolates with a Phil-loving Gorilla. Check it out by clicking on the image below:
Category: Music
Pearl Jam Revisted
Today in 1991, Pearl Jam released their first album, called Ten, which was the number of NBA player Mookie Blaylock. The album sold over 10 million copies. That’s a lot. To compare, the top album of 2006 was Carrie Underwood’s which sold 3.7 million.
The band was orginally called Mookie Blaylock, but Eddie Vedder came up with the name Pearl Jam in honor of his Aunt Pearl’s homemade jam which supposedly is a natural aphrodisiac and contains peyote. (more band names explained here)
The album contains two-thirds of Eddie Vedder’s little known “Mamasan Trilogy.” In the spirit of rock opera, Vedder lays out a tale of a twisted life in the songs Alive and Once. The third song of the trilogy, “Footsteps/Times of Trouble” is on the Temple of Dog album. The story goes…the trilogy starts with “Alive” in which a young man’s Father has died and allows himself to be seduced by a older woman Mrs. Robinson type who also happens to be…err…umm…how to say this, well let’s just say maternally-related of the first order. This traumatic experience eventually causes the kid to go on a rampage falling down the ill-fated path of taking up serial homicide as a profession as told about in the song “Once” Vedder growls, “Once upon a time I could control myself.” And it all ends as our forlorn character is caught and lands on death row. “Footsteps,” finishes the trilogy off with reminisces of a doomed delinquent dallying his last days and lost in deep thought, regret, and denial from behind the bars of a jail cell.
Life's a Journey
A good video of clay people cruising through their life. I find the video pretty mesmerizing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3xe9dSY7zM]
The song is also pretty good. It’s called “Eliza’s Aria” by Eliza Kats-Chermin.
The Dixie Chicks Documentary is Good
Just watched an interesting documentary about the Dixie Chicks. While about their music, it also shows the insane ignorance of americans and how the group really stood up for what they believed in when the entire industry was out to ruin them. Granted, it helped that their music was really good. I had never really listened to their stuff, but you don’t need to for the film. It delivers even if you’re not a fan.
What started a half-jokingly comment about Bush and the Iraqi war at a concert in the UK turned into pure hatred by the Right Wing. What the lead singer said was, “I’m ashamed the President is from Texas” was picked up on the AP wire and the media went nuts. The Dixie Chicks were targeted as representing everything that was anti-Bush. As a result, Clearchannel banned all their music from the radio, there were CD destroying rallies and the fanatical portion of the group sent them death threats so they couldn’t even tour. In the film, there are interviews of mothers teaching their daughters to say “i hate the Dixie Chicks.” It is incredible what happened. The Dixie Chicks are country music singers – in America – and to see the ignorance and hatred of other Americans towards them was incredible.
The highlight of the film came when the Dixie Chicks go back to the studio and make the song “Not Ready to Make Nice.” There’s a story of a band member who wrote a song called “Undivided” The lead singer (Natalie) asks: “Does that mean we would have to forgive all those people that did that to us?” He says, “Well, for the sake of the song, maybe it would.” Natalie, flinging a dismissive hand in the air, says, “Nope.” and she instead proceeds to record the title track of their platinum record. It’s called “Not Ready to Make Nice” and you can feel the emotion when they sing it. Their lives were destroyed – they were banned from the industry that they dominated b/c of their disagreement with the way. The lyrics to Not Ready:
it’s a sad sad story
when a mother will teach her
daughter that she ought to
hate a perfect stranger
how in the world can the words that i said
send somebody over the edge
that they’d write me a letter
saying i better
shut up and sing
or my life will be over
I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still made as hell
and don’t have time to go round and round and round
One of the Chicks commented on how this song brought her to tears for over 6 months every time she heard the song – and I believe it. These girls went through some tough shit. No country radio station would play their music for over 3 years and yet over an 8 year period, they were Sony/BMG’s top selling artist. The movie is a captivating story of a music group’s combat against traditional media and politics while at the same time keeping it real and producing really great music.
Matt Damon Interview
I’ve been a fan of Matt Damon since Good Will Hunting and he’s continued to rock since then. Here’s a link to a pretty good interview with him. One of my favorite parts is when he talks about how he takes roles where the character doesn’t say much. He references a quote from Clint Eastwood:
apparently he got a script, read it, came to the first rehearsal, handed the script to the writer and almost all of his lines were crossed out. Clint said, ‘It’s such a great script’, and the writer said, ‘But you crossed out all my lines.’ Clint said, ‘I crossed out your lines because now I don’t have to do any work. I know what my character is thinking’.”
This is only slightly related, but i read this quote about The Departed
Matt: (on working with Jack Nicholson) I have a lot of funny stories, but I like this one. Marty [Martin Scorsese, director] called me up and said, ‘Jack had some ideas for your scene tomorrow. He’s going to wear a dildo.’ So I thought, ‘Uh, okay.’ I thought he was joking, but he actually did! I was impressed at how obscene he was willing to be. With Jack, you expect the unexpected.
Happy 4th
The first motion in the Continental Congress for independence was made on June 4, 1776. After hard debate, the Congress voted unanimously, but secretly, for independence from Britain on July 2. The Congress reworked the text of the Declaration until July 4, when the 12 colonies voted for adoption and released a copy signed only by John Hancock, President of the Congress, to the printers.
John Adams the unofficial whip of the independence-minded, wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776:
- The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
He forgot to mention beers, bbq’s, baseball games and fireworks – but otherwise he pretty much nailed it
Also, a song for today: Independence Day by Ani (click here)
Check out the New Qloud Beta
If you are a Qloud user and want to check out the new qloud site, we’ve put the new beta up at www.qloud.com. Let me know what you think
Disturbing Album Covers
I got these from a great post from Grooveshark (post here) where they listed some of the most disturbing album covers of all time. They’re great to look at. Here are my 3 favorites (below) from the post. Click through to see them all.
Ridiculous Videos Vol. 4
It’s been a while since i’ve posted some ridiculous videos. Vol 3 (HERE) were pretty good and i actually did a Vol. 3.5 post over the holidays. Anyway, without any further delay, here’s Vol. 4.
This is what happens when you bring amateurs into sportscasting:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzuuTn4GSuA]
Misheard Lyrics for Yellow Ledbetter:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU]
What happens when you send a Canadian to sing the US National Anthem:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeBrjaohiJU]
Kings of Leon are Pretty Good
I’ve been listening to the band Kings of Leon a lot lately. They’re a rock band made up of 3 brothers and a cousin from Tennessee. Their dad and grandfather are both named Leon, hence the band name. They have 3 albums out but i’ve only gotten my hands on their latest: Because of the Times and it is pretty damn good. Almost all the songs are rockin’ but 2 really stand out: Ragoo and Fans. I’ve included them here and you need take a listen. It’s been a long time since i’ve heard songs like these that are so addicting.
It should also be noted that their songs can be heard in many TV shows and movies including: Entourage, Farrelly bros’ Stuck on You, Jetta commercials, Talladega Nights (in one of the races), and Distrubia (in the credits). So even though you may not have heard of them, you’ve probably heard them before. You can buy the entire album here.