Rock Band (almost addicted)

While in Atlanta for sales training on cool internet stuff, my peers ended up at Ralphie-B-Goode Cafe for some fun (really good fun) over ribs, chicken and Rock Band.



I always resisted any gaming devices because of the sheer addiction possibilities... but Rock Band hands down is the modern day party favorite! Above are my peers: Armando from Miami, Ashley from Raleigh and me, the WonderDawg. I forget the song pictured above, but I am definately out of touch on a generation's worth of music!

I just may have to start a band, or at least renovate my garage for band practice if Mrs. WonderDawg is willing to be the seamstress for the band. WOOMATIC sounds like a good name for a five piece band.

Weird that I never heard stuff like Coldplay, War Pig, some Ramones... I concluded that I am seriously too mellow or stuck in the 60 - 70 - 80's for my musical tastes.



Thanks BossMon for a great time!

Songs for the long road trip ahead

When I was younger - much younger - it would not be a physical stretch to drive 16 hours straight.

Of course all of the necessary checklist items were in place…. gas money, a AAA TripTik map, a place to stay and money to eat with were the “I wouldn’t think of leaving home without them” items. Once the checklist items were in place, off I went!

These days, packing toiletries, changing the oil, safety check on the car, paying all bills, checking credit card balances, camera, tons of electronics, gps and music to go on the iPod is a must. Of course, I tell my wife where I'm going and have some bonding time with my two dawgs.

Anyway, it seems that 3 hours is within my zone of sitting on my arse without a bladder break. Now I have my iPod loaded up with 30gb of music, but only a couple of dozen songs really propel me down the road. What I mean by that is that some songs seem to send my Honda Odyssey on a cruise control time warp effect that makes the trip go much faster.

Now I’m not a music scientist, but perhaps there’s a certain rhythm, a back beat that makes time in car fly by. Songs that work for me include horns, sing along choruses, hand drumming on the steering wheel, fake keyboards, a little head / neck motion, whistling, yelling, something that I can sing loudly (in the privacy of my car)… ‘num saying?

With that said, here are some of the road tested songs that really work for me…

Get Back – The Beatles
Dweller On The Threshold – Van Morrison
Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who
Compared to What – Brian Auger's Oblivion Express
Willin’ – Little Feat
Goodnight Moon - Shivaree
Jamming & Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley & The Wailers
Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John
Kid Charlemagne - Steely Dan
Running On Empty - Jackson Browne
Pick Up the Pieces - Average White Band
Love Shack - B-52's
Going Up The Country (Woodstock) – Canned Heat
The Golden Path (Original mix) - The Chemical Brothers
Indescribable – Chris Tomlin
Ain't Got No Home - Clarence "Frogman" Henry
Deep Forest - Deep Forest

As for albums, Deep Forest by Deep Forest and Love by the Beatles work every time without fail.

I wanna know what works for you so that I can build a playlist that will send me hurling down I 24 to Atlanta, GA!

New Music Discovery: Sophie Zelmani

One of the great thrills about music (and YouTube) is discovering a new artist. It's rare to find them on the radio... I forget how I found Sophie Zelmani, and her song "Hard to Know", but I like this clip:

Sophie Zelmani and Freddie Wadling "Once"

American Idol - The Early Favorites

Pretty amazing how TV just sucks the evening hours out of my life!

It appears to me that this year, American Idol has landed a pretty good lineup of talent that will make season enjoyable to watch. My four early favorites to make the top twelve:

Feist: Mushaboom

This video inspires me to go out and buy a HD camcorder to start making videos - Feist is a great artist that I admit, never heard of until I saw the Apple Nano commercial featuring the song "1 2 3 4".

Two wonderful lyrics by Feist:
It may be years until the day
My dreams will match up with my pay

and...

I got a man to stick it out
And make a home from a rented house oh
And we'll collect the moments one by one
I guess that's how the future's done oh

Fiest 1234, Amazon & O Canada

I'm a sucker for really good pop music - and Leslie Fieist's 1234 fits the bill nicely:



It's been featured as an Apple ipod Nano commercial - but what is ironic (for me anyway) is that I just brought the DRM free version at Amazon's new Digital Service's Store for .89 - 10 cents less than the iTunes Store.

And from Wikipedia:

Feist's single "1 2 3 4" has been featured in many advertising campaigns:

HBO's promos for its summer 2007 schedule.

Apple's advertising campaign for its third generation iPod nano, which premiered on September 5, 2007.

Urban Outfitters clothing promotion video in the Summer 2007 season.

eBay advertising aired in Australia beginning August 2007.

Lifetime Television used it to promote their new show Side Order of Life throughout the summer of 2007.

BBCs Match of the Day on Saturday 29th September 2007.

Bigpond Music download service commercial in Australia.

And speaking of Fiest who is from Canada, what's up with all this music from Canada? A lot of great music is streaming south of the border.

I've got Barenaked Ladies, Nelly Furtado, Diana Krall, Sarah McLachlan, Joni Mitchell, Alanis Morissette, and Neil Young representing Canada on my iPod.

One day, I have to set foot in Canada and tour the sights and sounds of what Canada has to offer.

Soon.

Sweet Dogs - (loving it)

As a dog lover, this video by Ane Trolle with Pato Siebenhaar over a reggae track resonates with me this morning. Enjoy!



Web site: http://www.trollesiebenhaar.com

"Magic often strikes by chance. Which is also true in the case of Trolle//Siebenhaar. The two artists Martin Siebenhaar and Ane Trolle met by chance through common friends at the reggae club Ruba Dub Sundays. A gray and boring week-night Trolle swung by Siebenhaars flat without the slightest idea of what this meeting would bring. Soon the flat was steaming with dusty beats and rousing soul vocals. A new Danish sound was born."



Fun stuff !

Misheard Lyrics Revisited

I was reading one of my favorite blogger's site (and it's brilliant) when Ms. Jag posted an awesome YouTube video:



Earl Jim's - Ladder Lord's Bel Aire I think is the name of the song...

Here's a cheat sheet on the lyrics:

Unsealed
On a porch a letter sat
Then you said i wanna leave it again
Once I saw her on a beach of weathered sand
And on the sand I wanna leave it again... yeah
On a weekend I wanna wish it all away yeah...
And they called and I said that I want what I said
And then I call out again
And the reason oughta leave her calm I know
I said i dont know whether
Im the boxer or the bag
Ah yeah ehh....
Can you see them
Out on the porch
But they dont wave
I see them round the front way yeah
And I know I dont want to stay...

I don't know if songwriters have a issue when they finally hit the big time with having their song recorded only to be misunderstood by a mish mashed vocal...

talking only me and you

I'm still digging this song two weeks later from when I first heard it at Best Buy - "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John



A music video I [saysthegiraffe] did for my Film and TV portfolio at NYU
The video quality isn't good because of youtube's upload limit
The intro song is "Overture" by Viktor Vaughn and the main song is "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John

... and this is cool ...

Davey Dance-BLOG. Pick a pop song. pick a location of historical interest. then dance. (video shot by Barb Domue)

We don't care about the young folks...

I always discover music in the most wonderful ways... I can be standing in a check out line at Target or American Eagle and hear a catchy song over the intercom or while on hold on a phone.

Tonight, I was at BestBuy and heard a song piped out of the car audio speakers - the only lyrics I could catch was "young folks" with a distinctive hook - thanks to iTunes, here's what I found!

I'm loving me some good pop music and my latest purchase from iTunes. Awesome!

Peter, Bjorn & John - "Young Folks" (featuring Victoria Bergsman)



and we don't care about the young folks
talkin' bout the young style
and we don't care about the old folks
talkin' 'bout the old style too
and we don't care about our own folks
talkin' 'bout our own stuff
all we care about is talking
talking only me and you

and knowing that you're probably tapping your feet, let's keep it going with dawn Landes - Young Folks (bluegrass style)



Peter, Bjorn & John web site.

dawn Landes web site.

Ane Brun - Stop (Live)

Ane Brun has been in "A" rotation on my iTunes playlist.

Worth joining eMusic to grab all of her songs.

Been There, But Haven't Done That

Last night at a cookout, I was hanging out with some guys talking about what guys normally talk about - sports! (How about them Preds?)

Part of the discussion centered around stadiums as I and Gary (my son) are on a life quest to visit every NFL stadium. Once, we visited Cleveland to see a Browns/Titans game - to cut to the chase, we sat in a minus 40 degree wind chill complete with snow.... never again.

I've been to Neyland stadium, but never seen a UT game - at the time, i helped coordinate a Promise Keepers mens conference with 33,000 guys in the drizzle. Somewhere I have video tape and photos of Peyton's uniform when we were conducting a site visit.

I've been to Vandy's Memorial Gym several times for concerts when I worked for Warner Records back in the day with U2, The Pretenders, a smoked filled evening with Bob Marley & The Wailers and many others, but never to a basketball game.

So for my flashback of Memorial Gym which I am assuming it's the same as it ever was...

Friday Random Ten Vol 3

Taking a cue from one of my favorite bloggers and all around fine human being, I've got a Friday Random Ten - Volume 3 edition going here.

This list was previously made up from stuff I just happen to listen to at this moment on my Mac; or a few songs from eMusic, podcasts or new/old songs that were ripped from from newly acquired CDs.

This time I just used the Party Shuffle / randomness via iTunes.

1) Open Arms - Journey

2) Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds) - The Cardigans from Super Extra Gravity

3) Jump in the Line - Trinidad Steel Drum Band from Caribbean Island Steel Drum Favorites

4) Since I've Been Loving You - Led Zeppelin from Led Zeppelin III

5) I Want You To Be Mine - Kayak Starlight Dancer

6) Maybe I'm Amazed - Joe Cocker Heart & Soul

7) Braveheart Theme - Enya Blues

8) Dancing In The Dark - Bruce Springsteen

9) Give me one reason (live unplugged) - Tracy Chapman & Eric Clapton

10) The Golden Path - The Chemical Brothers from Singles 93 - 03

Friday Random Ten Vol 2

Taking a cue from one of my favorite bloggers and all around fine human being, I've got a Friday Random Ten - Volume 2 edition going here...(with iTunes links)

This list is made up from stuff I just happen to listen to at this moment on my Mac; I grabbed a few songs from eMusic, or podcasts or new/old songs that were ripped from from newly acquired CDs.

1) Coverville 301: The Worst Cover Songs Edition II - The Coverville Podcast

2) Fanfare for the Common Man/Blue Rondo a la Turk - Emerson Lake & Palmer

3) Pass In Time - Beth Orton Feat. Terry Callier from Central Reservation

4) Ya Ya - Lee Michaels from 5th

5) The Greatest - Cat Power from The Greatest

6) Up to the Mountain (MLK Song) - Patty Griffin from Children Running Through

7) In Your Eyes - Ben Harper

8) Bowling Green - Neko Case And Her Boyfriends from The Virginian

9) Indescribable - Chris Tomlin from Passion: How Great Is Our God

10) Gentle On My Mind - Glen Campbell from All The Best

Friday Random Ten

Taking a cue from one of my favorite bloggers and all around fine human being, I've got a Friday Random Ten going here...(with iTunes links)

1) Finger Licking Chicken - Radars

2) Baby Can I Hold You - Tracy Chapman

3) Village Idiot - Van Morrison from Hymns To The Silence [Disc 1]

4) Sunny Road - Emiliana Torrini from Fisherman's Woman

5) The Eleventh Hour (Live) - Jars Of Clay from Furthermore: From The Studio, From The Stage (Disc 2)

6) Rubber & Soul - Ane Brun from A Temporary Dive

7) Walk on the Wild Side & Tom's Diner (Ben Liebrand remix) - Lou Reed & Suzanne Vega

8) Goodnight Moon - Shivaree from I Oughtta Give You a Shot in the Head for Making Me Live in This Dump

9) Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues - Nina Simone from The Very Best Of Nina Simone

10) Sweet Lullaby (ambient mix) - Deep Forest from Deep Forest

finger lickin' good!

I saw these two LPs at a yard sale...



... right about now in some music mogul's office, a conversation is brewing about getting in the studio to lay down some tracks for a Christmas album. Like its never been done before!

Anyhoo, here's a repost from the WonderDawg archives...

finger lickin' good!



finger lickin' good!

My dad Wei Hong Woo, was a four star banquet chef at the Washington Hilton for a number of years before returning home to open the Silver Moon restaurant in Richmond, VA (where I grew up in a family of seven).

My dad was a hard working man of honor and for fifteen years commuted between Washington, DC and Richmond, VA where Mom raised us. We never had worldly luxuries, but as you can imagine we always ate well and late during after-the-restaurant-closes hours. I didn't know that midnight spreads of shrimp, pepper steak, egg rolls and other Cantonese cuisine was abnormal. Probably explains why everybody in my family are night owls. As a lover of fine foods and even buffets, my daddy always said wait an hour to go swimming after you eat... which is why I don't know how to swim!

To add to that, never go blogging before lunch; thanks to Larry & His All Vinyl, All The Time blog, I'm starving for some KFC chicken!

Listen to this great song!

A. Good to the bone (ok)
B. Moan inducing (hmmmmm)
C. Really kickin' (I hope not in the literal sense)
D. Finger Lickin' (of course)
E. Worth pickin'


Colonel two step

It Ain't Me Babe

Responding to comments made, I did do a double take when I saw this musician on American Idol:



C'mon not all Asian Americans look alike...

And the only musical instrument I can play is the stereo. Really well.

I did want to play the sax for the longest time back in the seventies when I saw Chris Wood in concert (Traffic) do an amazing solo piece on "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys".

Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Rainbow/Dark Side of Oz

NOTE: I got a eMail this morning courtesy of my good friend and music aficionado Sharon Cobb as a perfect followup to the previous post. Thanks!

This DVD was created as evidence that Pink Floyd's 1973 release of "Darkside Of The Moon" and the 1939 release of "The Wizard of Oz" have some kind of a connection.

This connection is the fact that you can watch "The Wizard of Oz" and listen to "Darkside Of The Moon" and notice that they are synchronized. What I mean by this is that if the Album begins at the MGM Lion logo screen you will notice that the music matches perfectly with the things that are going on in the movie. Beats and guitars match almost every movement of the characters in some parts. Music shifts to different moods while the movie follows along perfectly.

(to do this with basic equipment is very difficult, and takes hours upon hours of correctly positioning the start of the album. That's why it has been done for you).

As soon as something exciting or dramatic happens to the characters, the music's mood shifts to match the scene so perfectly that it's almost scary.

You will also notice the lyrical matches. The lyrics of "Darkside Of The Moon" play the most important part of this whole connection. A lot of the lyrics actually seem to cue the characters to make actions in most parts. For example: the lyric "leave, but don't leave me" is sung just as Auntie Em motions to Dorothy to go away because she is busy. As Dorothy is leaving, the lyric "look around" is sung just before Dorothy looks back at Auntie Em. Sometimes the lyrics narrate the storyline of the "Wizard of Oz". The movie really begins to move when "Money" starts, The cash register sounds start up as soon as you see Dorothy in colour for the first time. The sounds represent the money spent on the Technicolor technology. Dorothy starts walking as the music to "Money" kicks in. As crazy as it may seem, it's almost as if Pink Floyd wrote and composed this album to go along with the "Wizard of Oz".

The most popular asked question to this DVD is, "is such and such a song on it"?.

The simple answer to this is, the entire "Darkside Album" Is on here 3 times! Your favourite songs feature and you will view them in a completely new and wierd way.

My favourite is During "great gig in the sky" Dorothy's house is sucked up into a violent tornado spinning her dizzy until it gently passes and she wakes up in her new technicolour world!.

So sit back, grab a beer and a smoke, and prepare to blown away into a psychedelic wonder land accompanied by the greatest ever rock band to grace the planet.

If interested in this DVD with High Quality glossy artwork and a Printed DVD (NOT a stuck on label) email me at plumpkatt1@aol.com for more information on how to obtain this DVD.

I was really drunk at the time...

This day in history...

Dark Side of the Moon is a 1973 concept album by Pink Floyd, dealing with the nature of the human experience through themes such as money, war, mental illness, and death. It is considered by many fans to be the band's magnum opus. It is estimated that one in every 14 people in the US under the age of 50 owns or owned a copy of this album; it is the third best-selling album of all time. Many fans claim that the album's music provides an alternative soundtrack to what 1939 film?

MORE courtesy of the FREE DICTIONARY.

Anybody heard the reggae version of the album by the Easy All Stars? Good stuff - Listen to Coverville's The Covered Side of the Moon presentation of Pink Floyd's classic LP from bluegrass to a cappella to orchestral and reggae.

Ane Brun - in "A" rotation on my stereo

Two good songs from Ane Brun - My Lover Will Go and Rubber & Soul.

Ane Brun is a songwriter, guitarist and vocalist from Norway. I've been memerized by her music over the past several weeks after accidently stumbling across her songs at eMusic.com



In my mind I'm crawling on your floor
Vomiting and defeated
Total absence of grace
Your reluctant voice
saying; you decide your own fate

But I wear rubberbands round my soul
They keep me from crawling
And these rubberbands round my soul
they keep me from falling