MTV Video Music Awards 2008

In a word......yuck. Truly yuck.

I tried my best to watch this thing, but it was so challenging I had to jump between this and a Will Smith movie. The MTV awards last night was full of superstars, but the star of the show was this Weird English guy who hosted it - Russell Brand. I couldn't understand him very well (he had a very thick accent), but I DID hear him beg Americans to vote for Obama this November. I thought THAT was cool!

And this Russell guy had some weird silver metal bar thing hanging over his crotch. What was that thing? It's in the picture here. You couldn't stop looking at it....well at least I couldn't! Anyway, everything goes downhill from here....

I was expecting that music would play a huge part in the show too, but music took a back seat to the hysterical visuals onstage. You know, I am speechless about what I saw. I don't mind shows that are extreme or provocative, but this was a visual onslaught of lights, bizarre outfits and crazy hair and it was just too much. The whole show was geared towards teenagers of course....it was like one long cereal commercial.
The dancing was all slick and over rehearsed too, and the dancers were too healthy. You know what I mean? they looked like jocks or football players, not dancers!

The music was really bad too, in particular the song by Kid Rock. He had new words written over a "mash up" of two GREAT songs - Werewolves of London and Sweet Home Alabama. Made me shudder. He put all these drug references in the song, and even had a rapper come out and start rapping over the huge mess.
I saw Christina Aguilara lip syncing too! She looked like some gothic bimbo trying to act like I don't know what......a detective? A mafioso? What the hell was she supposed to be??
I thought Tokio Hotel had an interesting looking girl singer until I heard a boy's voice come out from that wig and makeup. They looked Japanese but I think they're from Germany.

And they capped the whole thing off with this HORRIBLE band called Paramour!

I better stop here.....lord help us all....

Review of Russell Brand by the Seattle Post
Top Ten Things we didn't See

Tokyo Police Club: Nature of the Experiment review

Here's a really interesting piece of new rock from an up and coming band you might have heard of. Wow that was a mouthful! And so is Tokyo Police Club. Well, they're more like an earful actually.

Feels like everything on this track is pushed to the front of the mix. All the instruments are right at the top of everything and loud, expecially the gritty, slightly over driven slightly clean sounding guitar. I mean it's just weird folks. I know I'm talking in a lot of paradoxes but just listen to the damn thing and tell me if I'm wrong.

It does manage to work though, even with all the contrasts. It's just very inventive and fresh sounding. I particularly like the male and female vocals winding around each other.

those wacky Canadians....god love 'em.....

Tokyo Police Club
"Nature Of The Experiment" (mp3)
from "A Lesson In Crime"
(Paper Bag Records)
Buy at eMusic
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon
Buy at Insound
More On This Album

Kanye West paraded out for the RIAA at the Democratic National Convention

Check out this equation:

The Democratic National convention + new pending law which will put federal muscle behind prosecution of file sharing = Kanye West performing for Congressmen.

Yes it's true my brothers and sisters. Dammit!! One of the most popular (not necessarily most talented) entertainers of our current times is a whore being pimped out by lobbyists for the RIAA!

ABC News reports "According to disclosure records, the RIAA, whose members include ABC News' parent Walt Disney Company, spent more than $7 million on lobbying last year and has already spent $3.7 million this year.

Sponsors say the event was meant to sponsor U2 singer Bono's ONE campaign against poverty.....but the RIAA's efforts were clearly focused beyond the night's event."

What's up? I'll tell you what's up!!!

The RIAA wants a bill to pass that will allow the Justice Dept. to prosecute civil cases of "illegal" music downloading, make penalties more severe, and basically take these violations to a more serious federal level. Also, the bill would create an official post for a person, confirmed by the Senate, to oversee and coordinate these prosecution efforts with the Justice Department.

And the funny thing is, Kanye performed his big hit "Gold Digger". I wonder who it was dedicated to?!

Here's the story from ABC News.....and yes, I was surprised to find it there.

The Shaky Hands - new tune "We Are Young"

Hey there sugar. How about some nice, fresh rock that you haven't heard? Yeah? Like the sound of that? Well here's a nice hot dish....kinda like me.....ha! Check out this band The Shaky Hands ~ I got some mp3's and stuff for you below.

This band is from Portland, Oregon but their sound is a throw back to the British Invasion. They have the same energy as The Kinks, but with a modern sheen to their sound. All of them are talented but the drummer and vocalist really stand out! You know I really dig this rock and roll music that grew outta my blues. Makes me glad that all the hard times I went through led to something great.


The Shaky Hands
"We Are Young" (mp3)
from "Lunglight"
(Kill Rock Stars)
More On This Album

Madonna tour ~ Comparing McCain to Hitler and Obama to Gandhi

YES. Madonna knows how to do it. She isn't afraid to go against the grain and be controversial ~ and to just put it out there........right in the audience's faces. Kinda reminds me of myself back in my day! I mean if you got the stage USE IT!

Madonna started her tour yesterday and got everyone a-buzzin' with her video. She showed McCain (who I'm not keen on anyhow) mixed in with images of global warming and Hitler! Damn! That's taking things way past what other critics of McCain have done. Plus she showed the video along with this song she has called "Get Stupid".....

Then the video moved on to Obama, but this time she used pictures of John Lennon, Al Gore and Gandhi! Yes she's hitting the extremes, but it makes an impression. It's an artist speaking out and taking a risk and that takes real guts.

And there's something else too. Madonna just turned 50 years old a couple days ago, and she comes out onstage lookin' hotter than a cricket in July! Look at this woman's legs! My gawd! I personally like women a lot rounder than this, but to show up in front of thousands of folks in amazing shape and 50 years old ~ I haven't seen anyone else do that! Have you seen Eric Clapton and Neil Young lately? They should call Madonna's trainer right away. That must've taken a lot of work, and I admire women that work hard. I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers!

Till next time.

Dave Stewart's tour ~ August 2008

I saw an ad on TV the other day for a tour about to begin with another 80's icon, but what struck me was that the songwriter was touring, and leaving the face of Annie Lennox at home. That's pretty damn brave I thought, with our model-fixated culture these days. But then something else struck me.....

Dave Stewart is starting a tour on August 28th with a 30 piece band, and they'll be performing songs that he's WRITTEN. I think that's amazing. Has this happened before? A songwriter taking a huge band on tour, with singers, to perform the songs that he's written! This makes the SONGWRITER the STAR of the show.

You know, songwriting is where it's at. Without awesome songs to sing, most singers would never make it to your TV screens. And American Idol? I couldn't give two shakes about American Idol - that show is just turning out more singers and there's plenty of singers. Where are the songwriters? How about a show to find the best songwriter? It makes me so steamed when I hear the crappy music released by the mainstream music industry these days because the songs are So Boring and Alike. In the past record companies wanted to develop an artist or songwriter and give them time to find their voice. Nowadays it's all about squeezing every last dime from an artist's talent. And the industry is suffering!!

Here's some songs that Dave Stewart has written, but it's the tip of the ice berg of what this artist has produced:

"Sweet Dreams are Made of This”
“Here Comes the Rain Again”
Tom Petty’s “Don’t Come Around Here No More
No Doubt’s “Underneath It All”
Mick Jagger’s “Old Habits Die Hard”
Celine Dion’s “Taking Chances.”

More about Dave Stewart here
Here's the article

Female and male bloggers, Sexism and Blogher

Wouldn't you know it?? I couldn't believe it when I saw it! Sexism exists in the blogging arena too? Damn that pisses me off. I just started blogging and it didn't even occur to me this would be an issue. I thought since we're all just writing, the playing field would be level. Cripes.

I came across Social Cache last week, and a discussion of the inequalities between male and female bloggers. Nubby's post was inspired by an article in the NY Times, and the Blogher conference last week.

First I got mad, but then I got an Idea (which happens from time to time). It's easy for me to become a male blogger isn't it? Ha! So I'm going to do it. EXCEPT I'm not going to tell you my name! Next time you're reading some guy's fascinating blog, you might be reading me!

Here's some information I found from a small Swedish study done earlier this year on the differences between male and female bloggers:

• Women more often blog anonymously than men (49.2% compared to 34.0%).
• Male bloggers blog to a higher extent than female bloggers to market a product or a service, to influence others, to strengthen their brand, to create an archive of information and because there is a need for more voices in the public debate.
• Female bloggers blog to a higher extent than male bloggers to get in touch with others and to stay in touch with friends and family.
• 66.5% of all bloggers update their blog every day. Female bloggers update their blogs more often than male bloggers (74.1% at least once a day, compared to 42.6% of male bloggers).
• Male bloggers more often than female bloggers have ads on their blogs (14.3% compared to 7.4%). Here's the full study